Topic 10

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Components of spreadsheets

Labels are used for titles, headings, names and identifying rows or columns of data.

Data are the values (text or numbers) that you enter into the spreadsheet.

Formulas are used to perform calculations on the cell contents, i.e. =A1+A2; =B1*B2; =C1-C2; =D1/D2

Functions are specialized calculations that the spreadsheet software has memorized, such as average and sum. 

Average is to find the average of the numbers in a range of cells e.g. from A3 to A10 you would use =AVERAGE(A3:A10)

Sum displays the total of all the cells, e.g. from E3 to P3 inclusive you would use =SUM(E3:P3)

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Two types of cell referencing

Relative cell referencing- when a cell is used in a formula and the formula is copied to a new address, the cell changes to take account of its new position

Absolute cell referencing- a reference to a cell used in formula where, when the formula is copied to a new address, the cell address does not change ($) 

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Formatting techniques

  • Setting symbols such as percentages (%) and currency signs (£,$) 
  • Aligning cells, left, centre, right
  • Text size and font
  • Borders 
  • Rotating
  • Adding colour
  • Merging cells- joining cells together
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Benefits of using spreadsheets

  • You can perform '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 that the formulas are all correct, the calculations on the numbers will always be correct
  • It is easy to produce graphs and charts- once the data has been entered, it is very easy for the spreadsheet to produce graphs and charts based on it
  • You can save formulas and functions
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