| This month a departure from the usual Q&A format. Instead Jackie
provides a workshop on: Conversions
This month, I want to show you how to
set up a conversion chart that you can refer to every time you need to convert
measurements e.g. from metres to inches, miles to kilometres or pounds to gms etc.
Even if you are very new to
spreadsheet packages such as Excel, follow the pictures and you will find it is very easy,
and the finished spreadsheet will be extremely useful when saved onto your computer.
1.
Open a new file in Excel, and set out the following text and numbers in the various
squares - referred to as cells. To make the heading stand out, select cell A1
and click the Bold button on the toolbar. If
you want to carry out further conversions, (e.g.
pints back into litres or hours into days) simply add the extra units in columns A and C
and type in 1 in column B.
2.
In column D you now need to enter the correct formulae to make the conversions. For example, 1 litre equals 1.76 pints. To enter the formula correctly, click in cell D2 and
enter:
= (which will start the calculation)
B2 (the name of the cell containing the number of
litres to be converted)
* (to multiply)
1.76 (the number to multiply by)
The completed formula is shown
below:
When you press Enter or click the
mouse, the cell will show 1.76 as the result of the calculation.
3.
Now enter the correct formulae for the other conversions. These are shown below and you will see that each
formula refers to a cell in the appropriate row in column B. The symbol for dividing (e.g. metres to feet) is
/:
4. Save
your spreadsheet with a suitable name, as you would normally save any file.
5. To
use the conversion chart, simply enter the number of litres, metres, pounds
etc. you want to convert in the appropriate cell in column B. The answer in column D should update automatically as
the calculation is performed. To check any
underlying formula, click the cell and look in the window above - known as the Formula
Bar.
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