Spreadsheet

Welcome!

This week we begin to learn basic knowledge of spreadsheet. And we also took this month’s typing test. Spreadsheet is a general-purpose application software. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. A spreadsheet consists of a table of cells arranged into rows and columns and referred to by the X and Y locations. Spreadsheet has many functions. People can enter and store data in the spread sheet. People can create, edit, sort, analyze, summarize, and format data as well as graph it by using spreadsheet software.

Function

RANDBETWEEN(bottom; top) Randbetween means to return an integer random number between a specific range, between the bottom number and top number. For example, there is a lottery, everyone gets a number in a specific range and the sponsor using this way to decide who wins the prize.

SUM(number 1; number 2…) Sum is to sum the contents cell. I have learnt two ways to sum numbers. First way is to just enter “=” and all the numbers connected with plus sign. The other way is to enter “=” and click the active cell that the number you want to add. Then people will see the name of the active cell appearing. People should connect these names with plus sign. For example, when a person want to know expense of the trip. The person can use this way to calculate.

AVERAGE(number 1; number 2…) Average is to return the average of the arguments, ignoring text. For example, when teacher wants to know the average score of a test, she can enter all the score and use this way to calculate.

MAX(number 1; number 2…) Max is to return the maximum of a list of arguments, ignoring text entries. For example, a boss want to know who get the maximum salary and he can use this way to check it.

MIN(number 1; number 2…) Min is to return the minimum of a list of arguments, ignoring text entries. When a teacher want to know which student do not acquire knowledge well by testing, she can find the lowest score by using this function of spreadsheet.

ROUND(number; places) Round is to round a number to a certain precision. For example, “=ROUND(24.639528, 3)” means to round 24.639528 to three decimal places. So it will change to 24.640. For example, a company calculate the sales commission of employees. Numbers will not all be an integer when calculating the sales commission. So the company can use ROUND function to make the calculations to a precision level beyond two decimal places.

ROUNDDOWN(number; places) Rounddown is to round a number down, toward zero, to a certain precision. Bank can use this function. For example, people save money in the bank and they will get different interest according to time of deposits. If people save money in the bank for 10 months and 20 days, the bank will only calculate 10 months interests. They will ROUNDDOWN the number. 

ROUNDUP(number; places) Roundup is to round a number up, away from zero, to a certain precision. When a factory buy ingredients of a substance, they will roundup the amount of ingredients they need. 

ABS(number) ABS is to return the absolute value of a number. When a factory the same kinds of products, there must be considerably small differences between acceptable products and products they make. The factory could use ABS function to find which products they make accord to the acceptable products.

COUNT Counts the numbers in the list of arguments, ignoring text entries. When a salesman want to count how many kinds of goods they sell a day, he can use this function. COUNTBLANK Returns the number of empty cells. People will use this function when they check the to-do-list, they want to find how many things they have not done (cells show things that have done will have some words or signs). COUNTIF Counts the number of cells in a range that meet a specified condition. When a teacher want to check how many students have reached a certain level, she can use this function.

IF Returns one of two values, depending on a test condition. This function can be used when a teacher want to give students a comment according to their score.

CONCATENATE Combines several text strings into one string. It will be used when people want to combine their birth year with their birthday into one cell.

IFERROR Returns one of the two values, depending on a first value. It will be used when people want to check their results. AND Returns TRUE if all the arguments are considered TRUE, and FALSE otherwise.

OR Returns TRUE if any of the arguments are considered TRUE, and FALSE otherwise. A company use this function to select employees that agree with the conditions they set for a promotion. LOOKUP LOOKUP (lookupvalue; searchtable; resulttable) Returns a value from a single-cell-wide table, in a position found by lookup in another table. A teacher want to find which student get full mark in an exam and he can use “LOOKUP” function.