Excel is a spreadsheet application. It is a widely used application and one of the most useful and powerful applications to know about. So having a good knowledge of Excel is very useful. It is well worth learning.
The purpose is learning and thinking.
There is a lot to learn about Excel 2010. If you have never used any version of Excel, then a good course about it or even a good book will help. If you have used older versions of Excel, then you would not have much problem learning to use Excel 2010.
to select cells
Excel is a spreadsheet program. Oracle is for databases. Excel has some databasing capabilities, but it is not its main purpose.
Lots and lots of study and learning. -Unless you excel at math, forget it.
There are a number of classes you could take to learn to use Microsoft Excel. Microsoft itself offers online classes at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/ training/format-online.aspx. Your local library or community college would also be a good source of information about learning Excel in the classroom.
Excel is considerably easier to learn, but is very limited in its data analysis and graphics. MATLAB has a very steep learning curve, but can do anything you want. Seriously, anything. If this is part of your work or research, I highly recommend learning MATLAB.
E-learning center would definitely be of service to you: http://www.e-learningcenter.com/free_excel_course.htm They offer free excel training online.
His teacher provided various types of advices to help him excel in his learning.
With technology these days being so predominate as the industry grow so does the number of places willing to train you on how to use it. A few places where one might take lesson on how to use Excel are Excel Exposure, Clip Training, E-Learning Center, and even the actual Microsoft Office web help learning center.
the encoding of information for the purpose of retention and retrieval
It is possible to connect to elements of the internet through Excel. Excel's specific purpose is not to actually connect your computer to the internet, but like all modern applications software, it can be used in conjunction with the internet.