Spreadsheet Basics

Abstract

The main object of any spreadsheet program is to manipulate and present data (numbers, text) found in tabular form. Now, as most bare tables of anything will not mean very much to the lay observer, they will usually (always in this book!) need to be accompanied by a few other important things such as:

• Titles and other explanatory information explaining the nature of the data and how and when and why it was acquired.

• Labels attached to individual numbers or sequences of numbers explaining to what the numbers refer.

• Formatting of the numbers themselves to make their meaning as self-explanatory as possible.

• Formatting behind the numbers to draw the readers attention to the important parts of the table and highlight significant data.