Excel Skills | Exercises | Entering Formulas & Linking Cells www.excel-skills.

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Instructions
Versions: Excel 2010 & Excel 2007

Our practical Excel exercises are much more than just exercises! We design our exercises in such a way that they provide the user with a mapping of the Excel
features that can be used in order to complete the appropriate task in the most efficient manner possible. We also reference each step in each exercise to the
appropriate tutorial that needs to be studied in order to be able to complete the step.

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membership, we unfortunately cannot provide you with any of the solutions or assist you with any of the steps that are included in the appropriate exercise.

Start the exercise by saving the workbook on your system, then complete step number 1 and each subsequent step in the order as listed on this sheet before
comparing your workbook to the solution that we have provided.

Step Task Tutorial

1 Open the GP sheet and enter a formula in cell D4 which deducts the cost of sales amount in cell C4 from the Enter Data / Select Cells : Enter Formulas
sales amount in cell B4.
2 Copy cell D4. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
3 Paste only the cell formula into cells D5 to D12. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Formulas
4 Select cell E4 and enter a formula in this cell which divides the gross profit amount in cell D4 by the sales Enter Data / Select Cells : Enter Formulas
amount in cell B4 in order to calculate a monthly gross profit percentage.
5 Copy cell E4. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
6 Paste only the cell formula into cells E5 to E12. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Formulas
7 Select the cell range from cell A3 to cell B11 and copy this cell range. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
8 Open the Comm sheet, select cell A3 and paste the selected cell range so that the orientation of the copied Copy & Paste Data : Paste Text Orientation
cells changes from row based to column based. The month names will therefore now form the column
headings. When selecting the appropriate paste options, make sure that you only paste the cell values.
9 Select cell B9 and enter a formula which will enable you to calculate a monthly commission amount based on Formulas & Links : Relative & Absolute References
the two commission percentages that have been entered in cells B6 and B7. Note that we intend to copy the
formula to the formatted cells in both row 9 and 10 (Tip: An absolute row reference therefore needs to be used
for the sales cell and an absolute column reference needs to be used for the commission percentage cell).

10 Copy cell B9. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells

11 Paste all the contents of cell B9 into the cell range from cell B9 to cell I10. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Cells (normal)
12 Open the Sales sheet and link cell B4 on the Sales sheet to cell B4 on the GP sheet. Formulas & Links : Create a Link
13 Copy cell B4 on the Sales sheet. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
14 Paste only the cell formula into cell B5 to B11. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Formulas

Page 1 of 6
Step Task Tutorial
15 Select cell C4 and enter a formula which can be used to calculate a cumulative sales total for all the cells in Formulas & Links : Relative & Absolute References
column C (Tip: You will have to use the SUM function, use the same cell reference as both the from and to
referral points for the sum cell range and change the first cell reference to an absolute cell reference).
16 Copy cell C4. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
17 Paste only the cell formula into cell C5 to C11. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Formulas
18 Open the Tax sheet and select the cell range from cell A5 to cell D14. Enter Data / Select Cells : Select Cells
19 Insert the selected cell range into an Excel table. Excel Tables : Insert Table
20 Select cell B6 and link the cell to cell B4 on the GP sheet. Note how the formulas in the other cells in column B Formulas & Links : Create a Link
are automatically copied when the cell range is included in an Excel table.
21 Select cell C6 and enter a formula which multiplies the appropriate monthly sales amount by the sales tax Enter Data / Select Cells : Enter Formulas
percentage that has been specified in cell B3. Note that you will have to use an absolute cell reference to refer
to the sales tax percentage otherwise the other sales tax amounts in column C will not be calculated correctly.

22 Enter a formula in cell D6 which sums the sales and tax amounts for each row that is included in the table. Enter Data / Select Cells : Enter Formulas
23 Note the formula in cell D6 - this is an example of structured cell referencing which is a unique cell referencing Excel Tables : About Excel Tables
system to Excel tables. Change the default Table1 name to: TaxTable
24 Note how the formulas in the cells that are included in the Excel table are automatically updated with the new Excel Tables : Insert Total Row
table name. Now add a total row to the table.
25 Select cell B15 and add a SUM calculation to this column total. Do the same in cell C15. Excel Tables : Insert Total Row
26 Open the GP sheet and note that the formula that has been included in column E displays an error if the sales Logical Functions : IF Function
amount in column B is nil. Edit the formula in cell E4 by adding an IF function to it in order to display a nil value
if the sales amount in column B is nil.
27 Copy cell E4. Copy & Paste Data : Copy Cells
28 Paste only the cell formula into cells E5 to E12. Cell E12 should now contain a nil value. Copy & Paste Data : Paste Formulas
29 Save the workbook and compare your workbook to the solution that we've provided.

Page 2 of 6
Example Limited

Month Aug-2011 Sep-2011 Oct-2011 Nov-2011 Dec-2011 Jan-2012 Feb-2012 Mar-2012

Sales 100,000 85,000 90,000 115,000 107,000 101,000 105,000 112,000

Commission 1 % 10.0%
Commission 2 % 7.5%

Commission 1 Amount 10,000 8,500 9,000 11,500 10,700 10,100 10,500 11,200
Commission 2 Amount 7,500 6,375 6,750 8,625 8,025 7,575 7,875 8,400
Example Limited

Month Sales Cost of Sales Gross Profit GP%

Aug-2011 100,000 65,000 35,000 35.0%

Sep-2011 85,000 52,000 33,000 38.8%
Oct-2011 90,000 53,000 37,000 41.1%
Nov-2011 115,000 59,000 56,000 48.7%
Dec-2011 107,000 61,000 46,000 43.0%
Jan-2012 101,000 62,000 39,000 38.6%
Feb-2012 105,000 58,000 47,000 44.8%
Mar-2012 112,000 63,000 49,000 43.8%
Apr-2012 - - - #DIV/0!
Example Limited

Month Sales Cumulative

Aug-2011 100,000 100,000

Sep-2011 85,000 185,000
Oct-2011 90,000 175,000
Nov-2011 115,000 205,000
Dec-2011 107,000 222,000
Jan-2012 101,000 208,000
Feb-2012 105,000 206,000
Mar-2012 112,000 217,000
Example Limited

Sales Tax % 14.0%

Month Sales Tax Total

Aug-2011 100,000 14,000 114,000

Sep-2011 85,000 11,900 96,900
Oct-2011 90,000 12,600 102,600
Nov-2011 115,000 16,100 131,100
Dec-2011 107,000 14,980 121,980
Jan-2012 101,000 14,140 115,140
Feb-2012 105,000 14,700 119,700
Mar-2012 112,000 15,680 127,680
Apr-2012