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 Cells Unhidden 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.