Desktop Operating Systems - 11/14/2005

Today we covered Section 3 of the Excel section which covers such topics as the NOW, IF and PMT functions, printing gridlines and column headings, centering a spreadsheet on a page, margin changing, making charts, etc.

IF Statement
The IF statement is made up of three parts: the logical test, what to do if the test comes out positive, and what to do if the test comes out negative.  Here’s how it’s set up:

=IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false)

IF is great in telling Excel how to behave in certain situations.  The example we used in class calculated an employee’s bonus depending on how long that employee had worked.  If that employee had worked longer than 4 years, they got a bigger bonus, if less than 4 years, a smaller one.  Make sure you know how to construct an IF statement.

PMT Function
The PMT function allows us to figure out loan information based on the term of our loan, the initial loan amount and the interest rate that we have obtained.  Remember to use cell references when using the PMT function so that your payment information can change real-time as you change your variables – changing “hardwired” formulas sucks.

Homework

• Activities 1-5