Chapter 4

This presentation covers the following: – Worksheets – Workbooks – Rows and Columns – Cells – Ranges – Relative referencing – Absolute referencing

A worksheet is essentially a page in a spreadsheet application that contains cells which are defined by rows and columns. Each sheet can have it’s own name.

A workbook is a collection of worksheets which are in the same spreadsheet. Different worksheets may contain data about different aspects of a business but together they form a workbook.

A row is a range of cells that go across the spreadsheet. – Normally defined by numbers. A column is a range of cells that go down a spreadsheet. – Normally defined by letters.

They can be altered in size and can even be hidden. This spreadsheet has hidden cells which contain calculated values that are used for presenting the information in the worksheet in a certain way. Hidden CellsUnhidden Cells

Cells are individual data stores which are identified by their column letter and row number. They can also be given names to make them easier to reference. Cells can also be formatted to represent data in different ways, e.g. Dates, currency, text, etc. They can also be formatted to display characters in different ways: – Colours – Fonts Cells can have borders, backgrounds, validation rules, alignment and conditional formatting.

Basically it is a group of cells. The cells tend to contain similar data: – Test scores (as in the example) – Grades – Times – Etc

When we want to use a value in a particular cell we need to reference that cell. There are two ways to reference a cell in a spreadsheet. Using: – Relative referencing – Absolute referencing

Spreadsheets allow you to copy a formula from one cell to another. Relative referencing will automatically change the reference of the original cell by the number of cells you moved when you copied the formula. Look at this example: The original formula was in A3. It was copied across row 3. As the formula was copied the cell references updated across (so A1*A2 changed to B1*B2 etc)

Absolute referencing is used when you want to copy a formula to another cell but you don’t want the cell references to change. An absolute reference is denoted by a $ sign. Look at this example: The cell reference with the $ sign has remained the same whilst the other cells (which are referenced relatively) have changed.

You can also use named cells when you want to use absolute referencing. Look at this example: This cell has been called VAT.

Describe how a cell could be used in financial spreadsheets? Describe what a range is and give an example of its use in the context of a football league table. What is meant by cell referencing? Explain the difference between relative and absolute cell referencing. Give two advantages of relative cell referencing and two advantages of absolute cell referencing.