In class:
Administrative:
- Students share their presentations at the beginning of the class.
Instructional:
This week serves as an introductory session to the basics of spreadsheet software and worksheets. Often thought of complicated software, over the years, spreadsheet software has become easier to use and much more powerful. One thing to keep in mind thought is that spreadsheets are NOT difficult. They just require a bit of time to understand the terminology and basic functions. Once understood, the user will find spreadsheets and exceptional tool for a number of tasks.
- First spreadsheet software was VisiCalc which was later followed by the popular Lotus 1-2-3.
- Most popular spreadsheet application today is Microsoft Excel (which began on the Mac OS)
- Free spreadsheet software includes:
- Uses for spreadsheet software
- From you past experiences, create a list of the numerous uses for spreadsheet software
- Spreadsheet terminology
- Workbook – the entire document (.xls or .xlsx)
- Worksheet – tabbed areas containing sperate spreadsheets
- Rows - vertical (↑↓) and identified by the row number
- Columns - horizontal (←→) and identified by the column letter
- Cell - Intersection of a row and a column
- Cell Address -
A1
- Cell range -
A1:B3
- Cells contain:
- Numbers - these are constant and are numbers such as quantity, value or cost
- Math operations:
+
will add numbers-
will subtract numbers*
will multiply numbers/
will divide numbers
- Text - usually a title or a label that defines an associated cell
- Formulas
- Completes a calculation and places the results in the cell
- Always begins with the equal (
=
) symbol, i.e. =5+.05
- Formulas can contain real number, such as those found in the previous bullet, or cell references as in these two examples:
=A1+B1
will add the two numbers found in the reference cells=A1*B2
will multiply the two numbers in the reference cells
- Formulas can contain functions such as:
- SUM to calculate the total of a range of cells
=SUM(12+13+14)
will add all the number=SUM(A1:A13)
will add all numbers within the range of cells
- AVERAGE to calculate the average of a range of cells
=AVERAGE(12+13+14)
will determine the average of the numbers in the list=AVERAGE(A1:A13)
will determine the average of the number found within the range of cells
- Review the Google Docs function help page for a complete list (many of these are identical to the functions found in other spreadsheet software such as Excel
- CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
- Review the spreadsheet below and determine the value for each function (you may have to search the help page to determine what the function does):