Spreadsheet Basics
Senior 2 · ICT
Spreadsheet Basics
Lesson 1 of 5
16 min
Let's begin
A coffee cooperative in Huye records how many kilograms each farmer delivers every week and pays each one by the kilogram. Done on paper, one wrong addition means a farmer is underpaid. In a spreadsheet, the totals are calculated automatically and change by themselves when a number is corrected. Teachers use spreadsheets for marks, shops for stock, and families for budgets.
A spreadsheet program stores data in a grid and calculates with it. Examples are LibreOffice Calc, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. The steps use LibreOffice Calc, which is free. Microsoft Excel works the same way for everything in this lesson; where a menu differs, the Excel path is given too.
One sheet in Calc or Excel has 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns: the last column is XFD.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Title bar | Shows the file name ("Untitled 1" until you save). |
| Menu bar and toolbars | Commands. Calc has menus such as Sheet and Data; Excel groups the same commands on ribbon tabs. |
| Name Box | At the left of the Formula bar. Shows the reference of the active cell. Type a reference there and press Enter to jump to that cell. |
| Formula bar (Input line) | Shows the real contents of the active cell. If the cell holds a formula, the cell shows the result but the Formula bar shows the formula. |
| Column and row headers | The letters across the top and the numbers down the side. Click one to select the whole column or row. |
| Sheet tabs | At the bottom: one tab per sheet. Click a tab to open that sheet. |
| Status bar | At the very bottom. Shows, among other things, the sum and average of the selected cells. |
Keza clicks the cell in column D, row 7. The Name Box shows D7. She selects from B2 down to D5. That range, B2:D5, covers 3 columns (B, C, D) and 4 rows (2 to 5), so it contains 3 × 4 = 12 cells.
Tip
Letter first, then number. Column letter, then row number: B7, never 7B. To count the cells in a range, multiply the number of columns by the number of rows.
Write the reference of the cell in column F, row 12.
Solution: F12.
How many cells are in the range A1:C4?
Solution: Columns A, B, C = 3; rows 1 to 4 = 4; 3 × 4 = 12 cells.
A cell shows 3700 but the Formula bar shows =D2+D3+D4. Which is the cell's real content?
Solution: The formula =D2+D3+D4. The cell displays its result, 3700.
Mutesi saves her budget in Calc and emails it to a friend who uses Excel. Which format should she choose, and how?
Solution: Excel format, .xlsx: File > Save As, then choose the Excel file type before saving. (Excel can also open .ods, but .xlsx is safest.)
Remember
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