Page 708 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Spreadsheets

Lewis, Jan (1996, July/August). “Become a Better Communica-
tor.” Women In Business, 21-24. Sales by region for first quarter

January February March Total
Jan Hargrave East $ 1,200 $1,500 $1,800 $4,500
Midwest 500 1,000 1,500 3,000
South 900 1,500 1,800 4,200
West 2,000 2,100 2,400 6,500
Totals $4,600 $6,100 $7,500 $18,200
SPECIAL EVENT
PRICING
Figure 1
SEE Pricing

tions. Spreadsheets range from small, simple text tables to
large documents that can carry out complex computations
SPECIALTY GOODS and statistical analysis of thousands of data entries.
SEE Shopping Simple spreadsheets can be displayed on screen; more
complex spreadsheets extend into vast numbers of cells
and can be displayed in part on one screen. The power of
a spreadsheet is in its ability to store formulas and display
SPREADSHEETS their results. A recalculation feature in spreadsheets allows
Spreadsheet software is one of the most-used technologies a user to enter new data into the spreadsheet—which can
for collecting, computing, and displaying data. Spread- affect other sections of the spreadsheet—and see the
sheets contain a rectangular array of cells in rows and results of new calculations. This “What If” feature of
columns that can hold data. Users can create business spreadsheets is a valuable tool for users.
models, graphs and charts, and reports for financial, sta-
tistical, or other data. Most spreadsheet software allows a
user to access real-time data from Web sites and to collab- FORMAT OF A SPREADSHEET
orate across teams and workgroups. Spreadsheet software packages organize numeric data into
table format, vertically in columns and horizontally in
rows. Three types of data may be entered into a spread-
SPREADSHEET PACKAGES
sheet or worksheet: (1) values or numbers, (2) names or
Spreadsheet packages are available for various operating
systems, such as Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Java, labels, and (3) formulas for calculation. Values may be
Linux, and VMS. Spreadsheet capabilities are included in used for basic arithmetic operations: addition, subtrac-
financial management packages and integrated software tion, multiplication, or division. Labels identify informa-
packages. The best-known spreadsheet software packages tion in the worksheet and organize the information.
are Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 from IBM Corporation, Formulas perform calculations on data and display and
and Corel’s Quattro Pro. These three packages are store the resulting values. A cell, the intersection of a row
included as parts of office suites from Microsoft, IBM, and column, can contain a label, a value, or a formula for
and Corel. performing calculations. Cells are addressed by column
In addition, dozens of other spreadsheet packages are number and row number, and a current cell address is dis-
available. Many of these offer users an opportunity to try played in an address box. The “home” cell is A1, located
the product for a limited period and then pay a fee for in column A, row 1.
permission to use the package beyond the evaluation Only a small part of a complex spreadsheet is dis-
period. Many spreadsheets are listed on the Internet by played on the screen at one time. Spreadsheets can contain
their developers, either as shareware or for purchase, and millions of cells in each spreadsheet, and a spreadsheet file
some are available for downloading. can include multiple spreadsheets. For example, Lotus 1-
2-3 and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets have 256 columns
SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS and 65,536 rows, or 16,777,216 cells. A spreadsheet file
A spreadsheet is a table representing information in work- also may include multiple worksheets. More than one
sheet form. The spreadsheet can be visualized as a large worksheet can be used to render three-dimensional charts
sheet of paper with rows and columns and is based on the of data. Spreadsheets are very powerful, extensive elec-
worksheets used by accountants for manual computa- tronic worksheets.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 685