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Instructions for Creating a Spreadsheet

1. Open a worksheet in spreadsheet software.
2. In cell A1, type the title Machine. In cell B1, type How many minutes by machine? (You may use another time unit, such as hours.) In cell C1, type How many minutes on my own?
3. In column A, beginning in cell A2, list the machines students used in their human automation investigation. In columns B and C, beginning in cells B2 and C2, type in how much time it took for each category. Continue typing in the time it took until data is entered for all the machines.

1. In column B, click the cell below your last entry.
2. On the Insert menu, click Function. The Insert Function dialog box opens.
3. Choose Average function, and click OK.
4. The range of data you want averaged should appear next in the Number 1 text box in the Function Arguments dialog box in the format of B2:B5.
5. Click OK.
6. The average should now appear. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for column C.

Step 3: Graphing the data.

1. Highlight the cells you want to graphs (for example, in the sample spreadsheet above, you would highlight cells A1 through C5). You may want to create two different charts—one without the “average” data and one that is only the “average” data. (See the sample human automation data spreadsheet).
2. Choose Chart on the Insert menu.
3. Click the column chart type, and then click Next.
4. Click the Data Range tab verify that Columns is selected in the Series In section, and then click Next.
5. In Step 3 of the Wizard (Chart Options), click the Titles tab.
6. Add titles for the chart and its axes.
7. Click the Gridlines tab and experiment with gridline options. Choose gridlines that make understanding your data easier.
8. Click the Legend tab, choose a location for the legend, and then click Next.
9. Place the chart as an object on the original worksheet so that you can see the worksheet entries as you examine the chart, or place it on a separate sheet.
10. Follow the same procedure to create a chart representing that average—a pie chart works well to show the average data as you can use the text box tool to type in Minutes by Machine and Minutes on my own.