:: sue e-portfolio: my world of chemistry ::

- A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values.

- Microsoft Excel is spreadsheet software which capable of performing a lot of calculations quickly on a long list of data. We can subtract, find averages, add, and more.

- A spreadsheet cell may alternatively contain a formula that defines how the contents of that cell is to be calculated from the contents of any other cell each time any cell is updated.

- In a spreadsheet application, each value sits in a cell. We can define what type of data is in each cell and how different cells depend on one another. The relationships between cells are called formulas, and the names of the cells are called labels.

- Once we have defined the cells and the formulas for linking them together, we can enter our data. We can then modify selected values to see how all the other values change accordingly. This enables us to study various what-if scenarios.

- But, if we used a table of values arranged in rows and columns. Each value can have a predefined relationship to the other values. If we change one value, therefore, we may need to change other values as well.

- Example

Spreadsheet cells can contain raw data (numbers, dates, text labels and so on) or formulae. In this spreadsheet, the value in column D (Current Value) is the result of a formula: multiplying Current Shareholding by Current Share Price. The highlighted cell (D4) thus contains the formula =(B4*C4) which you can see displayed in the Data Entry box; while the result of the calculation is displayed in the cell D4 itself.