Vocabulary / Main Concepts

• Spreadsheet a class of application software that focuses on defining numerical relationships and encourages "what if" analysis.

• "What if" analysis The process of playing with numbers to see how they interact in a spreadsheet.

• cell The basic unit of memory in a spreadsheet. One cell will contain text, a number, or a formula.

• cell address Usually the intersection of a cell's row and column.

• row The horizontal units in a spreadsheet. Think "Row ACROSS a river." Rows go across.

• column The vertical units in a spreadsheet. Think of the Greek columns. They would look pretty silly going sideways. Columns go up and down.

• edit box The part of the spreadsheet that allows you to edit the value of a cell. Usually near the top of the spreadsheet.

• text Characters or numbers that are interpreted in ASCII or some similar format. The spreadsheet cannot do math on characters.

• numbers Values which can be calculated. Sometimes numbers look like text, but they are really numbers. (See cell formatting)

• formulas A formula is a mathematical expression that refers to cells in other parts of the spreadsheet.

• range A group of cells usually denoted by two corner cells seperated by a colon. (A6:F8) describes a rectangle with one corner at A6 and another corner at F8.

• cell formatting A special kind of formatting that describes how data will be represented. Changes the appearance of the cell, but not its value.

• formula character A special character (usually the = or + sign) that informs the spreadsheet that the contents of the cell will be a formula.

• order of operations A convention in mathematics describing the order that certain mathematical operations will occur. If in doubt, use plenty of parentheses to make your formula completely clear. Standard order of operations: (),^,*/,+-.

• relative addressing The standard form of reference to a cell. When you use a relative reference and copy the formula, the new formula preserves the relationship between itself and any referred cells.

• absolute addressing Referring to a cell with one or more dollar signs in the cell address. When copied, the locked parts of the address stay the same.

• replication A term sometimes used to refer to the special copy and paste behavior of spreadsheets.

• named ranges ranges of one or more cells that have been given a name for ease of handling. A named range is usually much easier to work with and understand than the built-in cell addresses.