The Consumer Price Index and Inflation

Table Tips

Your table may have a hodgepodge of colors and fonts. You may wish to make it more legible. The figure at the right shows (part of) a revised table with a title at the top and other enhancements. Wait until you are done graphing before inserting a title, because a title makes graphing more difficult. Here are the steps for making your table look like this one.

  1. Highlight Column A. Choose Format, Cells, Alignment, and Horizontal: Left.


  2. Insert two rows at the top of the table.


  3. In Cell A1, type your title, as in row 1 of the figure. (The information spills over into adjacent cells, but that problem is handled later.)


  4. In Cell A2, type the source of the data, as in row 2 of the figure.


  5. Click on the empty cell in the top left corner, next to A and above 1. This action highlights the entire table.


  6. Choose Format, Cells, Alignment, and Vertical: Top. For Border, choose None. Choose a Font, so that all data entries have the same font.
    7. (For more information on fonts, see “Notes for the Instructor.”)

  7. Highlight Cells A1 through E1.  Choose Format, Cells, and Patterns. Choose the palest yellow color available. Row 1 is now yellow. Highlight rows 1 and 2. Click on the Format Painter icon, which looks like this: . Highlight all the cells of the table, beginning with row 3. Now all the rows of the table alternate, yellow and white.


  8. Highlight Columns C through E. Choose Format, Cells, Number, and Number. Set the number of decimal places to 1.


  9. Highlight Cells A1 through E1. Choose Format and Cells. For Alignment, choose Horizontal: Center Across Selection. For Font, increase the font size as desired. Adjust the row border to make room for the letters.


  10. Highlight Cells B1 through E1. Choose Format and Cells. For Alignment, choose Horizontal: Center Across Selection, and Wrap Text.


  11. Highlight Cells A3 through E3. Choose Format and Cells. For Border, choose a border at the bottom. For Font, change the color to Automatic.

If you print the table, you could use the Page Setup commands to make a header with your name and a page number on every page. You could also use the Sheet tab in Page Setup to repeat rows 1, 2, and 3 on every page.

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