Stop 02 · Excel & SpreadsheetsTopics · 1/10

Excel Fundamentals

In short

Almost every analyst job assumes you're comfortable in a spreadsheet on day one. The basics take a weekend to learn and save you hours every single week after that.

Cell references, ranges, basic formulas and workbook structure — the baseline fluency almost every analyst job assumes you already have on day one.

The jaadu fills tick marks into a big grid notebook at a school desk.

Think of it like this

The class attendance register

A register has rows for students and columns for dates. Any box is found by its row and column, like 'Riya, 5 March'. A spreadsheet is the same grid, except each box can also do maths using the boxes around it.

Watch it happen

Cells, ranges and a formula

A1: Item

B1: Qty

C1: Price

A2: Chai

B2: 3

C2: 15

D2: =B2*C2

1/5Every cell has an address: column letter plus row number. A1 is the top-left cell.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Cells and ranges

A cell is one box like B2. A range is a block like B2:B100, which formulas can add up or search.

Formulas start with =

Type =B2*C2 rather than 45. If the inputs change, the answer changes too.

Relative vs absolute references

B2 shifts when you copy a formula down. $B$2 stays fixed, useful for a tax rate in one cell.

One row, one record

Keep each row as one item and each column as one kind of value. No merged cells in data.

See it in code

Walk through the code

excel

1=B2*C22=SUM(D2:D100)3=AVERAGE(C2:C100)4=D2*$G$15=IF(D2>500, "Big order", "Small")

1/4Multiply quantity by price for one row.

Five formulas you'll type almost daily. G1 holds a GST rate, locked with $ so it doesn't shift when copied.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Typing the answer (450) into a cell instead of a formula.

Do this instead

Use =B2*C2. Hard-coded numbers go stale the moment the data changes.

Oops

Merging cells and leaving blank rows inside your data.

Do this instead

Keep a clean block: one header row, no merges, no gaps. Sorting and filtering will thank you.

Your mission

Build a mess bill tracker

~20 min

Quick check

You copy =B2*$E$1 from row 2 down to row 3. What does row 3 contain?

Go deeper

1Practice absolute vs relative cell references ($A$1 vs A1) until it's automatic.
2Learn to structure a workbook with clearly separated raw data, calculations, and outputs.
3Build a small budget or tracker spreadsheet from scratch as practice.