Introduction to Spreadsheets

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Study Skill 11.5 Introduction to Spreadsheets

Introduction

A spreadsheet is a specialized electronic document that allows for data to be placed in rows and columns. They were modeled after financial accounting paper books, but quickly became a popular way to manage numeric data, dates, and even text. Information is organized into cells, which is a field for data placed where a specific row and column meet. Better yet, spreadsheets can calculate data using formulas; these can pull data from other documents or other cells in the same spreadsheet. That way, people can enter data in one cell and have the computer calculate all sorts of complicated math automatically. Text and numbers can be made easier to see, too: Spreadsheets can turn your data into graphs and charts, and they can be used to display text information, too, with the ability to change fonts and cell sizes.

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Key Ideas

  • Spreadsheets help you format and calculate with numbers, but also can be used to organize text data.
  • Popular spreadsheet apps include Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers.
  • You can also use spreadsheet apps to create charts and graphs from your number data.

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How about building a budget with a spreadsheet? See if you can follow these directions with either Excel or Google Sheets:  https://goo.gl/vs1qWq Links to an external site.