Spreadsheet Software

Spreadsheet Software

1. Benefits of Using Spreadsheets

   • What if Investigations
     • You can make changes to the spreadsheet values to see what happens.
   • Automatic Recalculation
     • When an item of data changes, all those cells that are connected to the changed cell by a formula will also change.
   • Accurate Calculation
     • Provided the formulas are all correct, the calculations on the numbers will always be correct.
   • It is easy to produce graphs and charts

2. Components of Spreadsheets

   • Labels
     • Used for titles, headings, names, and for identifying rows or columns of data.
   • Data
     • The values (text or numbers) that you enter into the spreadsheet
   • Formulas
     • Are used to perform calculations on the cell contents.

3. Functions

   • E.g. Average of the numbers in a range of cells from A3 to A10 would be =AVERAGE(A3:A10)
   • E.g. =SUM(E3:P3) displays the total of all the cells from cells E3 to P3 inclusive
   • A function is a specialized calculation that the spreadsheet software has memorized

4. Cell Referencing

   • Absolute stays still when copied ($)
   • Relative moves when the cell is copied

5. Formatting Data

   • Data
   • Integer
   • Percentage
   • Currency
   • Text

6. Formatting your Spreadsheet

   • Alignment- Left, Centre or Right
   • Text- colour, font face or size
   • Borders
   • Rotating Text
   • Cell Merging