Introduction to spreadsheets A spreadsheet is the computer equivalent of a paper ledger sheet.

It consists of a grid made from columns and rows. It is an environment that can make number manipulation easy and somewhat painless. A spreadsheet is a program designed specifically for processing data in tabular form. These data may be numerical or textual, although most of the functions of a spreadsheet are for the former kind. The spreadsheet is modeled on the paper device once used by accountants for tabulating numerical figures-a large sheet of paper spread out to show the financial state of a business. Apart from its ease of correction the electronic version differs from the paper spreadsheet principally in its database and numerical functions, most notably sorting and the ability to display the results of formulae which depend on values entered elsewhere in the sheet. Automatic calculation and graphical display have meant a radical increase in speculative, as if presentations, which has made the spreadsheet an essential tool of all commercial business and certain kinds of academic research. The rapidity with which graphical displays may be generated from quantitative information represents a potential for communication of facts and ideas that may as easily be abused as used. For what academic purposes is a spreadsheet useful? Spreadsheet software allows you to

create simple lists and tables of alphabetic or numerical data create and manipulate simple (flat-file) databases establish relationships between sets of numerical data apply arithmetic, mathematical or statistical functions to numerical datasets represent datasets in graphical or chart form

In the humanities, potential uses of spreadsheets include:

maintaining lists of short items you wish to sort, e.g. vocabulary, categories, instances of phenomena studying quantifiable information, such as word-distributions across textual corpora; demographics; other sociological statistics; voting patterns; inventories; etc. managing budgets, e.g. for grant applications and project expenses

Definitions and terminology

Structure A spreadsheet (or worksheet) is a table of rows and columns, as shown in the sample image below from Excel.

B. Useful terms The following terms are commonly used to refer to parts of the spreadsheet: 1. Mouse cursor: the pointer that in Excel takes the form of a cross (2 types, depending on location) or an insertion point (a vertical bar with cross-bars top and bottom, like the letter I). 2. Active cell: the current or selected cell (in the above image, cell C6) 3. Cell reference: the unique designator for a cell

4. Menu bar: the horizontal area at the top of the Excel window containing the names of the various drop-down menus. In the example at right, the menu bar is shown with the Edit menu activated. 5. Toolbar: two horizontal areas below the menu bar containing buttons, each with an icon representing the operations performed by the tool; these consist of the standard toolbar and the formatting toolbar. Moving the cursor onto the button causes an explanatory caption for it to be displayed briefly. See the above image. 6. Formula: an expression entered into a cell that is designed to be evaluated by the spreadsheet software.

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Formula bar: the horizontal area beneath the toolbar and to the right, where formulas are displayed when they are entered and whenever a cell containing a formula is selected. In the example at right, cell A4 contains the formula displayed in the formula bar. 8. Sheet tabs: the tab-like entities at the bottom of the workbook area, designated by Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and so forth, as shown here. Clicking on a tab causes the named sheet to be displayed. The active sheet tab is the one currently selected, here Sheet 1. Note the tab scrolling buttons to the left of the tabs; these cause the currently displayed set of sheet tabs to be rotated to the right or left. 9. Vertical scroll bar: in the image above, the bar at the right-hand edge of the Excel window, used for scrolling up and down the sheet; similarly the horizontal scroll bar is used for right- and left-scrolling.