Speadsheets
Speadsheets
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What is a Spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is a program that uses rows and columns to organise, store and make calculations from data. A cell is created where a row and a column intersect. Cells are named using the letter of the column and the number of the row. In Figure 11.2, Patrick Jennings’ name is in cell A11 and his Total Bonus is in cell F11.
What are spreadsheets used for?
What are spreadsheets used for?
In business, spreadsheets can be used to present reports, make financial predictions, and create charts and graphs. A teacher can use a spreadsheet to track student marks. Spreadsheets can simulate or model real-world situations, such as how much money is owed in each year of a loan or model climate change. Popular spreadsheet applications are Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers. Examples will cover both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
Activity 1 Entering Data and formulas:
Imagine you have just successfully built your first drone from parts bought online. Friends ask if you can build them one just like yours. You decide to use a spreadsheet to track costs and profits.
Activity 1 Entering Data and formulas:
Imagine you have just successfully built your first drone from parts bought online. Friends ask if you can build them one just like yours. You decide to use a spreadsheet to track costs and profits.
The items you require to build your drone are listed in Figure 11.3. Set up a new spreadsheet and copy these details into it.
Set this data type as Currency.
After entering all values, highlight column C and go to Format>Number>Currency.
Writing your own formula
Spreadsheets help keep numbers organised, but they really show off their power in calculations. For this, you need formulas. To use a formula, you always begin with the ‘=’ sign. This tells the spreadsheet software that you want a calculation to be done, and that what follows is not to be treated as ordinary text.
Addition
= B2 + C2 means add together the values in C2 from the value in B2
Subtraction
= B2 - C2 means subtract the value in C2 from the value in B2
Division
= B2 / C2 means divide the value in B2 by the value in C2. Keyboards us ‘/’ because the sign can be mistaken for a plus sign.
Multiplication
= B2 * C2 means multiply together the values in the two cells. Keyboards use an asterisk symbol (*) because the x sign can be mistaken for the letter X.
You can use the spreadsheet to calculate the total cost of a number of items. For example, you need four motors, one for each propeller. This means you need to multiply values in column B by values in column C along each row by writing a formula in a new column D.
To do this, enter the formula = B2*C2 in cell D2 and press Enter/Return. The result in D2 will show as $54.00 (Figure 11.6). You could write a similar formula in every cell from D2 down to D16, but this would be boring, easy to make mistakes and take a long time.
One of the ‘magic’ things about spreadsheets is that they can recognise patterns and apply them over a range of cells. You can now use this built-in ability, called Fill Down.
To do this, hover over the right bottom corner of D2 where a crosshair will appear, then drag this crosshair down from D2 to D16.
If you do this then all the totals will be calculated automatically and appear in column D (Figure 11.7)
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