Excel workbook 160 exercises with solutions and comments

Excel is the most popular and widely used productivity software in all
business environments, and it is an irreplaceable companion in
ordinary work as in the analysis of large amounts of complex data.
Nevertheless, the majority of users knows and uses only a very
limited number of features, often in an elementary way. This
workbook shows in practice the use of a wide variety of formulas,
functions and features (like charts, pivot tables, macros or the Solver
add-in) that allow to effectively and professionally work with Excel.
The workbook starts with the basics and gets progressively to deal
with very complex cases. It is a valuable support for college
students, professionals and managers who want to learn the basics
or to improve the knowledge of Excel up to an advanced level.
DigitaBook format includes the digital edition of the book with all the
initial and solved files available to carry out the exercises and check
the solutions. Over 80 exercises are commented, to highlight the
basic concepts and clarify the most complex ones.


Massimo Ballerini, Maria Chiara Debernardi, Davide Del Corno,
Maurizio De Pra are lecturers for Computer Science courses at
Università Bocconi in Milan.
Alberto Clerici is director of ITEC (IT Education Center) at the same
University.



THIRD EDITION

EXCEL
WORKBOOK

160 Exercises with Solutions and
Comments
M. Ballerini · A. Clerici
M. C. Debernardi · D. Del Corno
M. De Pra


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changes of address and contents of the websites mentioned.

Third edition: February 2021
ISBN Domestic Edition 978-88-31322-08-9
ISBN International Edition 978-88-31322-08-9
ISBN Digital International Edition 978-88-31322-09-6


Table of Contents

PREFACE
PLAN OF THE WORKBOOK

SECTION 1. EXERCISES
UNIT 1. EXCEL BASICS
EXERCISE 1.1 - Quarterly sales
EXERCISE 1.2 - Four elections
EXERCISE 1.3 - Income
EXERCISE 1.4 - Cinema
EXERCISE 1.5 - Courses
EXERCISE 1.6 - Population by age
EXERCISE 1.7 - Sales data
EXERCISE 1.8 - Exams
EXERCISE 1.9 - Balance sheet
EXERCISE 1.10 - TV shows
EXERCISE 1.11 - Cigarettes
EXERCISE 1.12 - Families
EXERCISE 1.13 - Beer and wine
EXERCISE 1.14 - Three elections
EXERCISE 1.15 - Athletics


EXERCISE 1.16 - Bills
EXERCISE 1.17 - Turnover analysis
EXERCISE 1.18 - US and foreign sales
EXERCISE 1.19 - Rainfall
EXERCISE 1.20 - UFO
EXERCISE 1.21 - Accidents
EXERCISE 1.22 - Music sales
EXERCISE 1.23 - Seven dwarfs
EXERCISE 1.24 - Expenses
EXERCISE 1.25 - Three musketeers
EXERCISE 1.26 - Murders

EXERCISE 1.27 - City council
EXERCISE 1.28 - Parliamentary groups
EXERCISE 1.29 - Regional chief towns
EXERCISE 1.30 - Population (summary exercise)
UNIT 2. FROM SIMPLE FUNCTIONS TO NESTED FUNCTIONS
EXERCISE 2.1 - Home loans
EXERCISE 2.2 - Internet users
EXERCISE 2.3 - Top sellers
EXERCISE 2.4 - Alphabet Inc.
EXERCISE 2.5 - Show
EXERCISE 2.6 - Productivity
EXERCISE 2.7 - Customer care
EXERCISE 2.8 - Istat
EXERCISE 2.9 - Planets (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 2.10 - Home Sweet Home (summary exercise)
UNIT 3. MATH FUNCTIONS AND ADVANCED CHARTS
EXERCISE 3.1 - Drugstores
EXERCISE 3.2 - Men at work
EXERCISE 3.3 - Car Insurances
EXERCISE 3.4 - Exam


EXERCISE 3.5 - Clothing Store
EXERCISE 3.6 - Beauty Business
EXERCISE 3.7 - Cosmetics Shop
EXERCISE 3.8 - International Education
EXERCISE 3.9 - Dinner with classmates (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 3.10 - Wages (summary exercise)
UNIT 4. FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS AND WHAT-IF ANALYSIS
EXERCISE 4.1 - Emerald

EXERCISE 4.2 - Smart Courses
EXERCISE 4.3 - Credits and debts
EXERCISE 4.4 - Cloth Paradise
EXERCISE 4.5 - Discount on rates
EXERCISE 4.6 - Smart Investments Bank
EXERCISE 4.7 - Garden Center (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 4.8 - GreenBio (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 4.9 - PhotoMagic (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 4.10 - Bright Sun (summary exercise)
UNIT 5. TEXT FUNCTIONS AND PIVOT TABLES
EXERCISE 5.1 - IBAN codes
EXERCISE 5.2 - Names
EXERCISE 5.3 - Superstore
EXERCISE 5.4 - Beauty
EXERCISE 5.5 - Europe sales
EXERCISE 5.6 - Erasmus
EXERCISE 5.7 - Vitanic
EXERCISE 5.8 - Office Line
EXERCISE 5.9 - Greenwich Village (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 5.10 - Black-yellow supporters (summary exercise)
UNIT 6. MANAGING DATES AND TIMES
EXERCISE 6.1 - Two hours
EXERCISE 6.2 - Timesheet


EXERCISE 6.3 - Date check
EXERCISE 6.4 - Linguistic certifications
EXERCISE 6.5 - Techno Building
EXERCISE 6.6 - Hotel Booking
EXERCISE 6.7 - My Friends

EXERCISE 6.8 - Temporary workers
EXERCISE 6.9 - Payments (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 6.10 - Stationery (summary exercise)
UNIT 7. LOOKUP & REFERENCE FUNCTIONS, DATA PROTECTION
EXERCISE 7.1 - Rocky Sports
EXERCISE 7.2 - Property Evaluation
EXERCISE 7.3 - Copy shop
EXERCISE 7.4 - Paper and related
EXERCISE 7.5 - Purchasing Department
EXERCISE 7.6 - DoReMi
EXERCISE 7.7 - Thinkstore
EXERCISE 7.8 - Print Service
EXERCISE 7.9 - European University
EXERCISE 7.10 - Consulteam
EXERCISE 7.11 - Candidates selection
EXERCISE 7.12 - MagicWood
EXERCISE 7.13 - Phone calls (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 7.14 - Box Office Star (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 7.15 - Sunshine Events (summary exercise)
UNIT 8. MACROS AND ELEMENTS OF VBA
EXERCISE 8.1 - Students
EXERCISE 8.2 - Tickets
EXERCISE 8.3 - Product list
EXERCISE 8.4 - Stores
EXERCISE 8.5 - Household linens
EXERCISE 8.6 - Arithmetic


EXERCISE 8.7 - Airbnb
EXERCISE 8.8 - Filtered data

EXERCISE 8.9 - Deliveries
EXERCISE 8.10 - Subtotals
EXERCISE 8.11 - Table
EXERCISE 8.12 - Worksheet protection
EXERCISE 8.13 - Chart axis
EXERCISE 8.14 - Table template
EXERCISE 8.15 - Alternate rows
EXERCISE 8.16 - Sales chart
EXERCISE 8.17 - Add worksheets
EXERCISE 8.18 - Sales pivot
EXERCISE 8.19 - Insert rows
EXERCISE 8.20 - Stock Exchange (summary exercise)
UNIT 9. MORE FUNCTIONS AND SOLVER
EXERCISE 9.1 - Hot deals
EXERCISE 9.2 - Blue Vision
EXERCISE 9.3 - Gold
EXERCISE 9.4 - Personal loan
EXERCISE 9.5 - New car
EXERCISE 9.6 - Gluten-free products
EXERCISE 9.7 - Condo fees
EXERCISE 9.8 - Car purchase
EXERCISE 9.9 - Promotional Campaign
EXERCISE 9.10 - German course
EXERCISE 9.11 - Overtime
EXERCISE 9.12 - Home video
EXERCISE 9.13 - Hotel Eden (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 9.14 - TechMind contest (summary exercise)
EXERCISE 9.15 - PluriPlast (summary exercise)
UNIT 10. DATABASE FUNCTIONS AND CHART OPTIONS

EXERCISE 10.1 - Payroll office
EXERCISE 10.2 - Sport shoes
EXERCISE 10.3 - Budget
EXERCISE 10.4 - District competition
EXERCISE 10.5 - Admission office
EXERCISE 10.6 - Distributors
EXERCISE 10.7 - Car dealer
EXERCISE 10.8 - Fruit & Vegetables
EXERCISE 10.9 - Albert Einstein
EXERCISE 10.10 - SEFCO (summary exercise)
UNIT 11. FINANCIAL APPLICATIONS
EXERCISE 11.1 - Premium Bonds
EXERCISE 11.2 - Coupon&Coupon
EXERCISE 11.3 - FRN
EXERCISE 11.4 - Reverse floater
EXERCISE 11.5 - Capital budgeting
EXERCISE 11.6 - Super Leasing
EXERCISE 11.7 - Stock performance
EXERCISE 11.8 - Stock analysis
EXERCISE 11.9 - Regression
EXERCISE 11.10 - Market Analysis (summary exercise)
UNIT 12. DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING
EXERCISE 12.1 - Turnover
EXERCISE 12.2 - Orders
EXERCISE 12.3 - Gifts
EXERCISE 12.4 - Product IDs
EXERCISE 12.5 - Counties and offices
EXERCISE 12.6 - Variable period
EXERCISE 12.7 - Choose your category

EXERCISE 12.8 - Chart with bands
EXERCISE 12.9 - Scroll bar


EXERCISE 12.10 - Dashboard (summary exercise)
SECTION 2. COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 1
EXERCISE 1.1 - Quarterly sales (commented)
EXERCISE 1.2 - Four elections (commented)
EXERCISE 1.3 - Income (commented)
EXERCISE 1.4 - Cinema
EXERCISE 1.5 - Courses (commented)
EXERCISE 1.6 - Population by age (commented)
EXERCISE 1.7 - Sales data (commented)
EXERCISE 1.8 - Exams (commented)
EXERCISE 1.9 - Balance sheet
EXERCISE 1.10 - TV shows
EXERCISE 1.11 - Cigarettes
EXERCISE 1.12 - Families
EXERCISE 1.13 - Beer and wine
EXERCISE 1.14 - Three elections
EXERCISE 1.15 - Athletics (commented)
EXERCISE 1.16 - Bills
EXERCISE 1.17 - Turnover analysis
EXERCISE 1.18 - US and foreign sales (commented)
EXERCISE 1.19 - Rainfall (commented)
EXERCISE 1.20 - UFO
EXERCISE 1.21 - Accidents
EXERCISE 1.22 - Music sales (commented)
EXERCISE 1.23 - Seven dwarfs

EXERCISE 1.24 - Expenses (commented)
EXERCISE 1.25 - Three musketeers
EXERCISE 1.26 - Murders
EXERCISE 1.27 - City council (commented)
EXERCISE 1.28 - Parliamentary groups


EXERCISE 1.29 - Regional chief towns (commented)
EXERCISE 1.30 - Population (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 2
EXERCISE 2.1 - Home loans (commented)
EXERCISE 2.2 - Internet users (commented)
EXERCISE 2.3 - Top sellers (commented)
EXERCISE 2.4 - Alphabet Inc.
EXERCISE 2.5 - Show
EXERCISE 2.6 - Productivity
EXERCISE 2.7 - Customer care
EXERCISE 2.8 - ISTAT (commented)
EXERCISE 2.9 - Planets (commented)
EXERCISE 2.10 - Home Sweet Home (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 3
EXERCISE 3.1 - Drugstores (commented)
EXERCISE 3.2 - Men at work (commented)
EXERCISE 3.3 - Car insurances (commented)
EXERCISE 3.4 - Exam
EXERCISE 3.5 - Clothing Store
EXERCISE 3.6 - Beauty Business
EXERCISE 3.7 - Cosmetics Shop
EXERCISE 3.8 - International Education
EXERCISE 3.9 - Dinner with classmates (commented)

EXERCISE 3.10 - Wages (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 4
EXERCISE 4.1 - Emerald (commented)
EXERCISE 4.2 - Smart Courses (commented)
EXERCISE 4.3 - Credits and debts (commented)
EXERCISE 4.4 - Cloth Paradise
EXERCISE 4.5 - Discount on rates
EXERCISE 4.6 - Smart Investments Bank


EXERCISE 4.7 - Garden Center (commented)
EXERCISE 4.8 - GreenBio
EXERCISE 4.9 - PhotoMagic (commented)
EXERCISE 4.10 - Bright Sun
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 5
EXERCISE 5.1 - IBAN codes (commented)
EXERCISE 5.2 - Names (commented)
EXERCISE 5.3 - Superstore (commented)
EXERCISE 5.4 - Beauty (commented)
EXERCISE 5.5 - Europe sales
EXERCISE 5.6 - Erasmus
EXERCISE 5.7 - Vitanic
EXERCISE 5.8 - Office Line
EXERCISE 5.9 - Greenwich Village
EXERCISE 5.10 - Black-yellow supporters (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 6
EXERCISE 6.1 - Two hours (commented)
EXERCISE 6.2 - Timesheet (commented)
EXERCISE 6.3 - Date check (commented)
EXERCISE 6.4 - Linguistic Certifications

EXERCISE 6.5 - Techno Building
EXERCISE 6.6 - Hotel booking (commented)
EXERCISE 6.7 - My friends
EXERCISE 6.8 - Temporary workers (commented)
EXERCISE 6.9 - Payments (commented)
EXERCISE 6.10 - Stationery (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 7
EXERCISE 7.1 - Rocky Sports (commented)
EXERCISE 7.2 - Property evaluation (commented)
EXERCISE 7.3 - Copy shop
EXERCISE 7.4 - Paper and related (commented)


EXERCISE 7.5 - Purchasing Department
EXERCISE 7.6 - DoReMi
EXERCISE 7.7 - Thinkstore
EXERCISE 7.8 - Print Service
EXERCISE 7.9 - European University
EXERCISE 7.10 - Consulteam
EXERCISE 7.11 - Candidates selection
EXERCISE 7.12 - MagicWood
EXERCISE 7.13 - Phone calls (commented)
EXERCISE 7.14 - Box Office Star
EXERCISE 7.15 - Sunshine Events (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 8
EXERCISE 8.1 - Students (commented)
EXERCISE 8.2 - Tickets (commented)
EXERCISE 8.3 - Product list (commented)
EXERCISE 8.4 - Stores (commented)
EXERCISE 8.5 - Household linens

EXERCISE 8.6 - Arithmetic (commented)
EXERCISE 8.7 - Airbnb (commented)
EXERCISE 8.8 - Filtered data (commented)
EXERCISE 8.9 - Deliveries (commented)
EXERCISE 8.10 - Subtotals
EXERCISE 8.11 - Table (commented)
EXERCISE 8.12 - Worksheet protection (commented)
EXERCISE 8.13 - Chart axis (commented)
EXERCISE 8.14 - Table template (commented)
EXERCISE 8.15 - Alternate rows (commented)
EXERCISE 8.16 - Sales chart (commented)
EXERCISE 8.17 - Add worksheets (commented)
EXERCISE 8.18 - Sales pivot (commented)
EXERCISE 8.19 - Insert rows (commented)
EXERCISE 8.20 - Stock Exchange (commented)


COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 9
EXERCISE 9.1 - Hot deals (commented)
EXERCISE 9.2 - Blue Vision (commented)
EXERCISE 9.3 - Gold (comment)
EXERCISE 9.4 - Personal loan (commented)
EXERCISE 9.5 - New car
EXERCISE 9.6 - Gluten-free products
EXERCISE 9.7 - Condo fees
EXERCISE 9.8 - Car purchase
EXERCISE 9.9 - Promotional campaign (commented)
EXERCISE 9.10 - German course
EXERCISE 9.11 - Overtime
EXERCISE 9.12 - Home video

EXERCISE 9.13 - Hotel Eden (commented)
EXERCISE 9.14 - TechMind contest
EXERCISE 9.15 - Pluriplast
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 10
EXERCISE 10.1 - Payroll office (commented)
EXERCISE 10.2 - Sport shoes (commented)
EXERCISE 10.3 - Budget (commented)
EXERCISE 10.4 - District competition (commented)
EXERCISE 10.5 - Admission office
EXERCISE 10.6 - Distributors
EXERCISE 10.7 - Car dealer
EXERCISE 10.8 - Fruit and vegetables
EXERCISE 10.9 - Albert Einstein
EXERCISE 10.10 - SEFCO (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 11
EXERCISE 11.1 - Premium Bonds
EXERCISE 11.2 - Coupon&Coupon
EXERCISE 11.3 - FRN


EXERCISE 11.4 - Reverse floater
EXERCISE 11.5 - Capital budgeting
EXERCISE 11.6 - Super leasing
EXERCISE 11.7 - Stock performance (commented)
EXERCISE 11.8 - Stock analysis
EXERCISE 11.9 - Regression
EXERCISE 11.10 - Market Analysis (commented)
COMMENTS AND FUNCTIONS UNIT 12
EXERCISE 12.1 - Turnover
EXERCISE 12.2 - Orders

EXERCISE 12.3 - Gifts
EXERCISE 12.4 - Product IDs
EXERCISE 12.5 - Countries and offices
EXERCISE 12.6 - Variable period
EXERCISE 12.7 - Choose your category
EXERCISE 12.8 - Chart with bands
EXERCISE 12.9 - Scroll bar
EXERCISE 12.10 - Dashboard (commented)
AUTHORS


Preface
This workbook derives from many years of experience of the authors
in Excel courses. The experience with students of different ages,
background and employment status, ranging from first year
university students to master students, up to managers and
professionals with several years of work experience, has allowed us
to understand how Excel is an indispensable tool useful in all kinds
of jobs and at all levels, and is as important as poorly known. The
majority of users, even those who say or believe they know how to
use Excel, actually know and use only a very limited number of
features, often in an elementary and ineffective way.
Excel in fact is the most used tool in businesses and offices, and its
knowledge is a competitive advantage that college students already
have when they need to carry out the first group work: those who
know how to use Excel have an edge over the others. This
competitive advantage becomes more important when they enter
into a business environment. When facing an interview, one of the
most feared questions is: “So, you told me that you have a good
knowledge of Excel: let’s try to build a pivot table to analyze these

data...” and here starts a cold sweat and, while you try to draft a
response, the belief that the position will be assigned to someone
else grows. Employers know that those who have a good knowledge
of Excel work more efficiently, and workers know that with a solid
Excel foundation one can perform daily work better and more
quickly, whether it is a table with a few simple formulas or the
analysis of complex data.
This workbook allows putting into practice the use of a wide variety
of formulas, functions and features (such as pivot tables, macros,
statistical and financial functions, and the Solver add-in) that allow
working effectively and professionally with Excel.


This workbook is divided into 12 thematic units. Unit 1 starts with the
basics of Excel, and unit after unit the workbook is designed to arrive
in a progressive manner to deal with very complex cases. In the
dedicate web area at you can find the
digital edition of the book with all the initial and solved files that allow
to perform the exercises and test the solutions. Among the 160
exercises available, over 80 are commented, to highlight the basic
concepts and the peculiarities, and clarify the most complex tasks.


Plan of the Workbook

Unit 1. Excel Basics
Topics: simple formulas (addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division), using absolute and mixed references, calculating a
percentage, calculating a percentage variation, SUM, AVERAGE,
MAX, MIN, COUNTA, COUNT, IF, ABS functions, formatting, simple

sorting, creating and customizing simple charts.
(30 exercises, 15 commented)
Unit 2. From Simple Functions to Nested Functions
Topics: importing data, TRIM, AND, OR, COUNTBLANK functions,
nested functions, conditional formatting, sorting on multiple levels,
filter, and Paste command options (Values).
(10 exercises, 6 commented)
Unit 3. Math Functions and Advanced Charts
Topics: SUMPRODUCT, COUNTIF, AVERAGEIF, SUMIF functions,
conditional formatting with formulas, Subtotal, Remove Duplicates
command, linking cells, creating charts with a trend line, and charting
mixed charts and with two axes.
(10 exercises, 5 commented)
Unit 4. Financial Functions and What-If Analysis


Topics: financial functions: PMT, FV, naming cell or ranges, Paste
command options (Transpose), Scenarios, and Goal Seek.
(10 exercises, 5 commented)
Unit 5. Text Functions and Pivot Tables
Topics: text functions: RIGHT, LEFT, MID, CONCATENATE, UPPER,
LOWER, PROPER, LENGTH, SEARCH, statistical functions:
COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, pivot table, pivot chart, data
validation.
(10 exercises, 5 commented)
Unit 6. Managing Dates and Times
Topics: formulas with dates and times, normalization of time units,
date and time functions: DAY, MONTH, YEAR, HOUR, MINUTE,
SECOND, WEEKDAY, DAYS, TODAY, NOW, DATE, DATEDIF, and
IFERROR functions.

(10 exercises, 7 commented)
Unit 7. Lookup & Reference Functions, Data Protection
Topics: Lookup & Reference functions: VLOOKUP, MATCH,
statistical function RANK.EQ, worksheet protection, workbook
protection, file protection, and encryption.
(15 exercises, 5 commented)
Unit 8. Macro and Elements of Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA)
Topics: recording a macro in Excel, assigning a macro to a shape or
a button, and simple VBA editing.
(20 exercises, 18 commented)
Unit 9. More Functions and Solver
Topics: ROUND, INT, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, HLOOKUP, PPMT,
IPMT, RATE, VA, NPV, IRR, TEXT, CONVERT, NETWORKDAYS
functions, Data tables, advanced filter, and Solver add-in.
(15 exercises, 6 commented)


Unit 10. Database Functions and Chart Options1
Topics: use and creation of templates, SUM function with 3D
references, Database functions: DSUM; DMIN; DMAX; DCOUNT;
DAVERAGE, commenting, Compare and Merge Workbooks
command, and advanced chart options.
(10 exercises, 5 commented)
Unit 11. Financial Applications
Topics: Financial functions: YIELD, XIRR, TBILLYIELD, NPV, IRR,
XNPV, PPMT, IPMT, date and time functions: COUPPCD,
COUPDAYBS, COUPDAYS, COUPNCD statistical functions:
MEDIAN, STDEV.S, VAR.S, COVARIANCE.S, CORREL, KURT,
SKEW, SLOPE, INTERCEPT, RSQ, and Data analysis add-in.

(10 exercises, 2 commented)
Unit 12. Data Analysis and Reporting
Topics: lookup & reference functions: INDEX, INDIRECT, OFFSET,
information function ISNUMBER, data validation, form control setting
(checkbox and scroll bar), and options of the Paste command (Paste
as linked picture).
(10 exercises, 2 commented)

1

This unit is specifically dedicated to the preparation of the ECDL/ICDL
Advanced Spreadsheets certification.


SECTION 1.
EXERCISES


Unit 1. Excel Basics

Topics of this unit:
Simple formulas (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), using
absolute and mixed references, calculating a percentage, calculating a
percentage variation, SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, COUNTA, COUNT,
IF, ABS functions, formatting, simple sorting, and creating and
customizing simple charts.