Excel for Marketing Managers

Secret Code Maker..................................................................

Secret

Code Maker

Secret Code Maker

Opportunity...............................................................................................................................

Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” had his Li’l Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring.
Your students can have their own Excel version of a code maker and decoder,
and even learn a little about cryptography in the process.

Solution and Overview

You will use the built-in Excel functions CODE to change letters into their
equivalent ANSI (American National Standards Institute) character set
number, and CHAR to change those numbers back into text.

Creating the Solution

1. Set column width.
   Start by clicking on the B in column B at the top of the page and dragging
   to the right to column P. With all these columns highlighted, move your
   cursor to the vertical line between columns B and C and it will change into
   a plus sign with horizontal arrows. Left click and drag the vertical line to
   the left until the column width reads 3.29 (28 pixels).

Figure 200

Setting column width