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Something fairly easy to understand and follow with not too much jargon please.
There's a computer qualification called ECDL. Covers whole range of general computer tasks, the coursebook for it would be handy to have, if you want something on paper, but there are loads of online tutorials around these days.
[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pass-ECDL-5-Units-1-7/dp/1905292384/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289484902&sr=8-1 ]Amazon clicky for ECDL book.[/url]
IIRC the Microsoft online courses are a not bad starting point. Take a look at them
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/get-to-know-excel-2007-enter-formulas-RZ010074593.aspx
The Guardian recommend learnign it through the medium of dance;
[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/classroom-innovation/video/teaching-spreadsheets-through-dance ]http://www.guardian.co.uk/classroom-innovation/video/teaching-spreadsheets-through-dance[/url]
I find singletrack forum to be the most informative, and honest answer, and utterly jargon free!
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Better to learn by trying to solve / do something in Excel rather use a book. Plus use the help and tutorials within Excel itself and online resources like Mr Excel and Excel Tips.
tbh most excel functionality that you're going to use in anger is common to all versions, Rootes1 is right about getting in there and getting your hands dirty
is there a specific job you're trying to do ??
chandoo.org is very useful for tips and short tutorials, but the best thing is to just try something, very little you can't do in excel.
The Microsoft Press books tend to be of high quality.
Im wholly self taught. The best way of learning Excel is to work your way through each function - understanding the syntax and the mathematics where necessary.
Good excel skills come from knowing what it can and cant do and how it does it. The rest is learning good practice. Keeping your logic clear and succinct, your layout and user interface intuitive and your processes systematic. A good model should be usable by any competent user whether or not they appreciate the logic and maths behind it. Other best practice as you develop are bringing in better error capture and checking skills and good workflow practices like version control and data source logs.
Additionally, from my own personal perspective, "seeing" and "feeling" numbers is the key to building useful models. Have a gut feel as to where the figures should take you before you build the model that way when you see things behaving in an unexpected way you can identify it and either adjust your expectations in light of better understanding of the maths or find the fault in your calculations.
There's loads of online excel resources too which I would suggest are better places to learn from than just a book.
Its the saddest thing about my life, that I LOVE Excel 😉 It's also the most lucrative thing too 🙂
And avoid VBA as far as possible, it's the work of the devil 😈
Cheers for all the valuable info guys.
Whats VBA Stoner?
Very Bloody Awful
Visual Basic (Applications) iirc.