uses for the microsoft excel spreadsheet

#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET MANUAL#
#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE#
#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET WINDOWS#

For instance, the formula =5*C10 would produce the result of multiplying the value in cell C10 by the number 5. To make such a formula, one replaces a number with a cell reference. The key feature of spreadsheets is the ability for a formula to refer to the contents of other cells, which may, in turn, be the result of a formula. This may lead to confusion in some cases. A formula would begin with the equals sign, =5*3, but this would normally be invisible because the display shows the result of the calculation, 15 in this case, not the formula itself. Data might include the string of text hello world, the number 5 or the date 16-Dec-91. A given cell can hold data by simply entering it in, or a formula, which is normally created by preceding the text with an equals sign. Users interact with sheets primarily through the cells. Some systems extend this syntax to allow cell references to different workbooks. Cells in a multi-sheet book add the sheet name to their reference, for instance, 'Sheet 1!C10'. Worksheets are normally represented by tabs that flip between pages, each one containing one of the sheets, although Numbers changes this model significantly. A workbook is physically represented by a file containing all the data for the book, the sheets, and the cells with the sheets. In modern spreadsheet applications, several spreadsheets, often known as worksheets or simply sheets, are gathered together to form a workbook. LANPAR innovated forward referencing/natural order calculation which didn't re-appear until Lotus 123 and Microsoft's MultiPlan Version 2. For instance, one can refer to the first ten cells in the first column with the range 'A1:A10'. This electronic concept of cell references was first introduced in LANPAR (Language for Programming Arrays at Random) (co-invented by Rene Pardo and Remy Landau) and a variant used in VisiCalc and known as 'A1 notation'.Īdditionally, spreadsheets have the concept of a range, a group of cells, normally contiguous. A single cell can be referred to by addressing its row and column, 'C10'. X locations, the columns, are normally represented by letters, 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' etc., while rows are normally represented by numbers, 1, 2, 3, etc. Ī spreadsheet consists of a table of cells arranged into rows and columns and referred to by the X and Y locations. In 2006 Google launched a beta release spreadsheet web application, this is currently known as Google Sheets and one of the applications provided in Google Drive. A spreadsheet program is a standard feature of an office productivity suite.

#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET WINDOWS#

Microsoft Excel now has the largest market share on the Windows and Macintosh platforms. Lotus 1-2-3 was the leading spreadsheet when DOS was the dominant operating system. VisiCalc (1979) was the first electronic spreadsheet on a microcomputer, and it helped turn the Apple II computer into a popular and widely used personal computer. LANPAR was an acronym: LANguage for Programming Arrays at Random. LANPAR, available in 1969, was the first electronic spreadsheet on mainframe and time sharing computers.

Although they were first developed for accounting or bookkeeping tasks, they now are used extensively in any context where tabular lists are built, sorted, and shared. Spreadsheets have replaced paper-based systems throughout the business world. Spreadsheet programs also provide conditional expressions, functions to convert between text and numbers, and functions that operate on strings of text. Such calculations as net present value or standard deviation can be applied to tabular data with a pre-programmed function in a formula.

īesides performing basic arithmetic and mathematical functions, modern spreadsheets provide built-in functions for common financial accountancy and statistical operations.

#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE#

Modern spreadsheet software can have multiple interacting sheets and can display data either as text and numerals or in graphical form.

#USES FOR THE MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEET MANUAL#

This makes the spreadsheet useful for 'what-if' analysis since many cases can be rapidly investigated without manual recalculation.

Spreadsheet users can adjust any stored value and observe the effects on calculated values. The term spreadsheet may also refer to one such electronic document. Each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. Computer application for organization, analysis, and storage of data in tabular form Example of a spreadsheet holding data about a group of audio tracksĪ spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form.

Uses for the microsoft excel spreadsheet