2 Excel
I
n this chapter you’ll learn how to work with Excel 2007 in the
Windows operating system. You’ll be introduced to basic workbook
concepts, including navigating through your worksheets and work-
sheet cells. This chapter also introduces StatPlus, an Excel add-in
supplied with this book and designed to expand Excel’s statistical
capabilities.Getting Started
This book does not require prior Excel 2007 experience, but familiarity
with basic features of that program will reduce your start-up time. This
section provides a quick overview of the features of Excel 2007. If you
are using an earlier version of Excel, you should refer to the text Data
Analysis for Excel for Offi ce XP. There are many different versions of
Windows. This text assumes that you’ll be working with Windows Vista
or Windows XP.Special Files for This Book
This book includes additional fi les to help you learn statistics. There are
three types of fi les you’ll work with: StatPlus fi les, Explore workbooks, and
Data (or Student) fi les.
Excel has many statistical functions and commands. However, there are
some things that Excel does not do (or does not do easily) that you will need
to do in order to perform a statistical analysis. To solve this problem, this
book includes StatPlus, a software package that provides additional statisti-
cal commands accessible from within Excel.
The Explore workbooks are self-contained tutorials on various statistical
concepts. Each workbook has one or more interactive tools that allow you to
see these concepts in action.
The Data or Student fi les contain sample data from real-life problems.
In each chapter, you’ll analyze the data in one or more Data fi le, employing
various statistical techniques along the way. You’ll use other Data fi les in
the exercises provided at the end of each chapter.Installing the StatPlus Files
The companion website at http://www.cengage.com/statistics/berk contains an
installation program that you can use to install StatPlus on your computer.
Install your fi les now.