About the Author A leading textbook author, lecturer and instructor, Patrick Carey has authored or co-authored more than 40 popular academic and trade texts for the academic market. He has taught and written about a wide range of topics, including website design, JavaScript programming, Microsoft Office and Excel, statistics, data analysis and mathematics. Mr. Carey received his M.S. in biostatistics from the University of Wisconsin, where he worked as a researcher designing and analyzing clinical studies. Today, he splits his time between Wisconsin and Colorado, and when he is not writing, he can be found hiking and cycling. Ms. Carol DesJardins spent 25 years in the private sector as a programmer, systems analyst and eventually Chief Information Officer. During that time, she honed her skills with Excel as an analysis tool. She transitioned her knowledge to the classroom and has taught several applications and programming courses. Ms. DesJardins co-authored her first textbook on Excel. In addition to writing, she continues to teach at St. Clair County Community College. Ms. Ann Shaffer is the co-author of NEW PERSPECTIVES ON MICROSOFT WORD and has contributed to many other Cengage publications. She has more than 25 years of experience as a developmental editor and co-author of books, journal articles and multimedia in a variety of fields, including computer science, mathematics, history, engineering and social sciences. She holds a masters degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Mark Shellman is an instructor and the Chair of the Information Technology Department at Gaston College in Dallas, North Carolina. Dr. Mark, as his students refer to him, prides himself on being student-centered and loves learning himself. His favorite subjects in the information technology realm include databases and programming languages. Dr. Mark has been teaching information technology for more than thirty years and has co-aut