Selecting a Block of Cells

A block of cells is a range of cells containing values and bounded by empty cells. There are several ways to select cells within a block  

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For a large list such as this one, it s convenient to use one of the methods for selecting a block of cells described in Chapter 1 select the first row of cells and press CONTROL+SHIFT+(down arrow) or place the mouse pointer on the bottom edge of the selected row, hold down the SHIFT key and double-click to select all cells to the bottom of the block. Then choose Sort... from the Data menu to display the Sort dialog box. 

You need to hold down Control-Shift while pressing Enter. If you accidentally press Enter and the output array is no longer selected, simply reselect the array and place the cursor in the command line again and hit Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Also make sure you have highlighted a block of cells 5 rows x 2 columns, and that the last (fourth) parameter is set to 1. (Section 5.4)... 

A block of cells can be selected by moving the cursor to the upper left cell of the block and then moving it to the opposite corner of the block while holding down the left mouse button ( dragging the cursor). You can also drag the cursor in the opposite direction. The contents of the cell or block of cells can then be cut or copied into the clipboard, using the Cut command or the Copy command under the Home tab. The contents of the clipboard can be pasted into a new location. One selects the upper left cell of the new block of cells and then uses the Paste command under the Home tab to paste the clipboard contents into the workbook. If you put something into a set of cells and want to remove it, you can select the cells and then press the Delete key. 

The Excel function LINEST returns the slope and intercept and their uncertainties in a table (a matrix). As an example, enter x and y values in columns A and B. Then highlight the 3-row X 2-column region E3 F5 with your mouse. This block of cells is selected to contain the output of the LINEST function. Under the insert menu, select function. In the window... 

A convenient way to edit existing records or enter new data in a database is by using Excel s Data Form. The database range must already have been defined, either by using Set Database or by selecting a cell within the block of cells that comprise the database. Choose Form... from the Data menu. The Data Form dialog box will appear, with the name of the worksheet in the title bar, as in Figure 6-9. 

It will be useful to have a graphical display of the way in which M, m, and their %dif. varies with concentration (expressed as wt% HCl). Review the /G pulldown menu and the section in the Manual. Use the command /GGX /GGX /GG to bring you to the graph menu and to select an XY type graph. Now select X, which allows you to specify the block of cells... 

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