Excel provides a useful function called SUMPRODUCT which can be used to find summation of multi dimension data series. For example: You have number of cartons in cells A1:A5Number of units in each carton in cells B1:B5Price of each unit in cells C1:C5 You want to find the total cost of the stock. The answer is simple. You use the following formula: =SUMPRODUCT(A1:A5,B1:B5,C1:C5) You don't need to multiply A1*B1*C1 and then copy it down. This function seems to be quite handy and can be used for many other calculations.

Excel's random number generating function, RAND, normally produces a random number that is a five- or six-digit decimal greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1.

Here's a really quick tip for working with calculations in spreadsheets. Use this procedure to change any formula or contiguous group of formulas to values.Select a cell or a group of cells containing the formulas you wish to convert. The cells you select must be adjacent to one another.

More Excel Tips!Presented by: Gail Perry, CPA,Managing Editor of AccountingWEB and author of Excel 2000 Answers!January 12, 2001Visit the AccountingWEB Workshop Calendar for upcoming workshop sessions.SummaryHere are some of the quick tips discussed in Gail's Excel workshop on January 12, 2001.

In a recent workshop at AccountingWEB, author and AccountingWEB Managing Editor Gail Perry shared some of her favorite Excel tips.Workshop sponsored by National Payment CorporationHere are some more of the tips that were discussed in January's workshop event:Placement of To

More Excel Tips!Presented by: Gail Perry, CPA,Managing Editor of AccountingWEB and author of Excel 2000 Answers!January 11, 2001Visit the AccountingWEB Workshop Calendar for upcoming workshop sessions.SummaryHere are some of the tips discussed in Gail's Excel workshop on January 12, 2001. Look for more of these tips in future stories on AccountingWEB.

Here's a shortcut that will save time when you have a lot of data to enter in a block of columns and rows in your spreadsheet.If you are entering data in a block of cells, you can enter information across the first row of the block by pressing Tab to move from one cell to the next.When you are ready to enter information in the next row of cells, press Enter and you will be taken to the leftmost column of the block.For example, say you need to enter data in the cells B3 through Q12.

Here's a timesaving tip for Excel users who frequently need to copy an entire worksheet (a page within a workbook) of information-such as a list of items for a monthly inventory-from one workbook (Excel file) to another.To copy an entire sheet to another workbook, follow these steps: Open the workbook into which you want to paste the copied sheet. Switch to the workbook that contains the sheet you want to copy. Right-click the Sheet tab of the sheet you want to copy.

Gail Perry, contributing editor of AccountingWEB and author of the Friday Excel Tips that appear in your weekly newswire, presented a workshop Thursday in which she shared some of her favorite tips.