The objectives of laboratory 4 include learning about the basic functions of spreadsheets - how to create them, modify them, save them, and print them.
Spreadsheets are a common type of application program, on the same "level" as wordprocessing. Spreadsheet is a "generic" term, like wordprocessor.
Excel is the name of a spreadsheet application available under Microsoft Windows, also written by Microsoft Corporation. There are many other spreadsheet programs available, for example Lotus 123 and Quatro Pro. All of the popular spreadsheet programs have similar features. Excel is part of the Microsoft Office standard package and the Microsoft office professional package.
Spreadsheets are used to organize, display, and communicate numerical and financial data. They are the second most widely used type of application on PCs, after word processing. An early program called "Visicalc" was partially responsible for the growth in sales of PCs in their very early days!
Important background for spreadsheets:
Cells can hold 3 types of information:
The first two categories are constants - they will not change when other parts of the spreadsheet are modified. However, Cell references (a very simple expression meaning copy what is in cell referenced cell to the current cell) and formulas may change if the data in other cells is modified.
Spreadsheets have formatting capabilities similar to wordprocessing programs for text. In addition, they have powerful formatting capabilities for numbers and the results of formulas in their cells.
Spreadsheets automatically re-calculate the results of formulas whenever a cell referenced is modified. Compared to paper and pencil this is an even greater time-saver than editing vs. re-typing in a wordprocessor!
Many built-in functions are available that calculate totals, averages, statistical functions, etc. You will be using a few of those in the first lab, and more in the second lab on Excel next week.
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