Spreadsheets

Software

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What does the software do?

Spreadsheets can:
do all sorts of calculations, both simple and complex,
using formulae
use functions to help you set up complex formulae
act as simple databases so that you can sort or search
your data
plot charts and graphs
change the appearance of fonts, cell backgrounds and
borders
control how many decimal places are shown.

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Basic features

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What else can it do?

Functions can help the user to:
look up data from lists
do specialized calculations in subjects like finance,
statistics and trigonometry
experiment with questions, such as What if the interest
rate went up by 1%?
use logic such as IF, AND and OR
change the format of a cell depending on what is in it
(conditional formatting)
use pivot tables to summarize data
reduce the number of input errors by setting rules
(validation).
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Can I have a go?

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Lookup table
Spreadsheets also include some features you would
expect to see in a database. An example of this is the
lookup function.
This function allows you to search through a table of
information and find the relative value which is why it is
called a lookup table.

Like a database, the table has:

field names Subject, Teacher, Room
records each row is a different record. For
example, record 1 is English Mrs Ridyard Room A.
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To find out the ICT teacher, you would look down the
Subject column until you found ICT, then across to the
Teacher column to find the teachers name.

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The computer does just the same. Lets look at the function
which is entered in cell B7:
=VLOOKUP(A7, A2:C5,2) Mrs Spencer
Vertical (i.e.
column)
lookup (find)

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Find the
word in
cell A7

Look
between
A2:C5

Take the
value in
column 2

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To find the room that ICT is in, you would put the following
lookup function in cell C7:
=VLOOKUP(A7, A2:C5,3)
Vertical (i.e.
column)
lookup (find)

Find the
word in
cell A7

Look
between
A2:C5

Take the
value in
column 3

The answer is 8.
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Goal seek
Another very useful feature of spreadsheets is goal seek.
This can speed up certain calculations.
For example, a shop has a box of 50 Easter eggs which
they want to sell very quickly as Easter is today. They want
to reduce the price and just make a profit of 10. How do
they find out the price the eggs have to be sold for?

You can take the 10.00 profit required, add it to the

cost, and then divide the total by the number of eggs.
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Or you can use goal seek.

You want to change the profit (cell D6) to 10 by changing
the price of each Easter egg (cell C4).

Price
changes
to 1.71
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Profit
changes
to 10.00

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How would you find out what price the eggs need to be
to make a 5 profit?
How would you find out what price the eggs would need
to be sold for to make a 24 profit if they came in boxes
of 55?
How would you find out how much the eggs must be sold
for so the shop can make a profit of 24 if the cost of each
box goes up to 80?
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What would it be used for?

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Goal seek
If 24 people are waiting
and 3 checkouts are open
they wait 16 minutes.

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Goal seek can work out how many checkouts are needed
to cut queuing time to 8 minutes.
Change the
waiting time
to eight
minutes
by changing
the number
of
checkouts.
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We need 6 checkouts open to keep waiting time down

to 8 minutes.

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Who would use it?

Spreadsheets are used by:
engineers to test whether structures are
strong enough
business managers to model their finances
scientists to simulate (work out) what might
happen in different circumstances
teachers to calculate marks and grades.

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Summary
Spreadsheet software is mostly used for simple and
complex calculations using formulae.
Spreadsheets are also very useful for plotting charts.
They can be used to sort and search data.
Functions make it easier to set up complicated
calculations.
Vlookup looks things up in lists.
Spreadsheet simulations can model situations so that
you can ask What if questions.

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