Chapter 16

Data bar

A cell format consisting of a shaded bar that provides a visual cue to the reader about the value of a cell relative to other cells; the length of the bar represents the value in the cell—a longer bar represents a higher value and a shorter bar represents s lower value.

Absolute cell reference

A cell reference that refers to cells by their fixed position in a worksheet; an absolute cell reference remains the same when the formula is copied.

Legend

A chart element that identifies the patterns or colors that are assigned to the categories in the chart.

Pie chart

A chart that shows the relationship of each part to a whole.

Data marker

A column, bar, area, dot, pie slice, or other symbol in a chart that represents a single data point; related data points form a data series.

Freeze Panes

A command that enables you to select one or more rows or columns and freeze (lock) them into place; the locked rows and columns become separate panes.

Find and Replace

A command that searches the cells in a worksheet—or in a selected range—for matches and then replaces each match with a replacement value of your choice.

Goal Seek

A feature that finds the input needed in one cell to arrive at the desired result in another cell.

Conditional format

A format that changes the appearance of a cell—for example, by adding cell shading or font color—based on a condition; if the condition is true, the cell is formatted based on that condition, and if the condition is false, the cell is not formatted.

IF function

A function that uses a logical test to check whether a condition is met, and then returns one value if true, and another value if false.

Paste Options gallery

A gallery of buttons that provides a Live Preview of all the Paste options available in the current context.

Logical functions

A group of functions that test for specific conditions and that typically use conditional tests to determine whether specified conditions are true or false.

Enterprise fund

A municipal government fund that reports income and expenditures related to municipal services for which a fee is charged in exchange for goods or services.

Pane

A portion of a worksheet window bounded by and separated from other portions by vertical and horizontal bars.

SUM function

A predefined formula that adds all the numbers in a selected range of cells.

Function

A predefined formula—a formula that Excel has already built for you—that performs calculations by using specific values in a particular order or structure.

Excel table

A series of rows and columns that contains related data that is managed independently from the data in other rows and columns in the worksheet.

Bevel

A shape effect that uses shading and shadows to make the edges of a shape appear to be curved or angled.

COUNT function

A statistical function that counts the number of cells in a range that contains numbers.

COUNTIF function

A statistical function that counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given condition and that has two arguments—the range of cells to check and the criteria.

Volatile

A term used to describe an Excel function that is subject to change each time the workbook is reopened; for example, the NOW function updates itself to the current date and time each time the workbook is opened.

Data point

A value that originates in a worksheet cell and that is represented in a chart by a data marker.

Chart sheet

A workbook sheet that contains only a chart.

Summary sheet

A worksheet where totals from other worksheets are displayed and summarized.

Print Titles

An Excel command that enables you to specify rows and columns to repeat on each printed page.

AVERAGE function

An Excel function that adds a group of values, and then divides the result by the number of values in the group.

MIN function

An Excel function that determines the smallest value in a selected range of values.

MEDIAN function

An Excel function that finds the middle value that has as many values above it in the group as are below it; it differs from AVERAGE in that the result is not affected as much by a single value that is greatly different from the others.

NOW function

An Excel function that retrieves the date and time from your computer's calendar and clock and inserts the information into the selected cell.

Logical test

Any value or expression that can be evaluated as being true or false. MAX function [An Excel function that determines the largest value in a selected range of values.

Criteria

Conditions that you specify in a logical function.

Scale to Fit

Excel commands that enable you to stretch or shrink the width, height, or both, of printed output to fit a maximum number of pages.

Statistical functions

Excel functions, including the AVERAGE, MEDIAN, MIN, and MAX functions, which are useful to analyze a group of measurements.

Relative cell reference

In a formula, the address of a cell based on the relative position of the cell that contains the formula and the cell referred to.

Flash Fill

Recognizes a pattern in your data, and then automatically fills in values when you enter examples of the output that you want. Use it to split data from two or more cells or to combine data from two cells.

Data series

Related data points represented by data markers; each data series has a unique color or pattern represented in the chart legend.

Split

Splits the window into multiple resizable panes that contain views of your worksheet. This is useful to view multiple distant parts of your worksheet at one time.

Comparison operators

Symbols that evaluate each value to determine if it is the same (=), greater than (>), less than (<), or in between a range of values as specified by the criteria.

Drag and drop

The action of moving a selection by dragging it to a new location.

Paste

The action of placing cell contents that have been copied or moved to the Clipboard into another location.

Explode

The action of pulling out one or more pie slices from a pie chart for emphasis.

Chart area

The entire chart and all of its elements.

Sheet tabs

The labels along the lower border of the workbook window that identify each worksheet.

Sort

The process of arranging data in a specific order based on the value in each field.

What-if analysis

The process of changing the values in cells to see how those changes affect the outcome of formulas in a worksheet.

Filter

The process of displaying only a portion of the data based on matching a specific value to show only the data that meets the criteria that you specify.

Navigate

The process of moving within a worksheet or workbook.

3-D

The shortened term for three-dimensional, which refers to an image that appears to have all three spatial dimensions—length, width, and depth.

Paste area

The target destination for data that has been cut or copied using the Office Clipboard.

General fund

The term used to describe money set aside for the normal operating activities of a government entity such as a city.

Arguments

The values that an Excel function uses to perform calculations or operations.

Detail sheets

The worksheets that contain the details of the information summarized on a summary sheet.