The main element of the spreadsheet is ... The main elements of the Excel spreadsheet

Every modern PC user who has ever faced with the Microsoft Office software package, which is one of the most common today, knows that there is an MS Excel application in it. Now we will consider the basic concept of spreadsheets. In passing, brief information about the main elements of the structure of table elements and data and some of their capabilities will be given.

What is an Excel spreadsheet?

The first mention of the Excel program dates back to 1987, when Microsoft released its most famous office suite of programs and applications, united by the common name MS Office.

In fact, the Excel spreadsheet is a universal tool for processing mathematical data of all varieties and levels of complexity. This includes mathematics and algebra, and geometry, and trigonometry, and working with matrices, and mathematical analysis, and the solution of the most complex systems of equations, and much more. Practically everything that belongs to the exact sciences of this plan is presented in the program itself. The functions of spreadsheets are such that many users not only do not know about them, they do not even suspect how powerful this software product is. But first things first.

Getting Started with Spreadsheets

Once a user opens an Excel program, he sees a table created from the so-called default template. The main workspace consists of columns and rows, the intersection of which forms cells. In the understanding of working with all types of data, the main element of the spreadsheet is a cell, because it is in it that they are entered.

Each cell has a numbering consisting of an ordinal designation of a column and a row, however, it may differ in different versions of the application. For example, in the 2003 version, the very first cell, located at the intersection of column "A" and line "1", is designated as "A1". In the 2010 version, this approach was changed. Here the designation is represented in the form of ordinal numbers and numbers, but in the description line the columns are designated as "C", and the lines as "R". Many people do not understand why this is so. But here everything is simple: "R" is the first letter of the English word row (row, row), and "C" is the first letter of the word column (column).

Used data

Speaking about the fact that the basic element of the spreadsheet is a cell, it is necessary to understand that it concerns exclusively input data (values, text, formulas, functional dependencies, etc.). The data in the cells can have a different format. The function of changing the format of the cell can be called from the context menu when the PCM is clicked on (right-click).

The data can be presented in text, numeric, percentage, exponential, monetary (currency), fractional and time formats, as well as in the form of a date. In addition, you can specify additional parameters for a kind or decimal places when using numbers.

Main window of the program: structure

If you look closely at the main application window, you will notice that in the standard version, the table can contain 256 columns and 65536 rows. The bottom of the tabs are tabs. There are three of them in the new file, but you can ask more. If we assume that the main element of the spreadsheet is a sheet, this concept must be attributed to the content on different sheets of different data that can be used crosswise when specifying the appropriate formulas and functions.

Such operations are most useful when creating summary tables, reports, or complex computation systems. Separately, it should be said that if there are interlinked data on different sheets, the result is automatically calculated without changing the dependent cells and sheets without reintroducing a formula or function expressing this or that dependence of variables and constants.

On the top is a standard panel with several main menus, and just below the formula line. Speaking about the data contained in the cells, we can say that the main element of the spreadsheet is this element, because either the text or numeric data entered into the cells or the formulas and functional dependencies are displayed on the line itself . In the sense of displaying information, the formula string and the cell are the same. True, for a string, formatting or specifying a data type is not applicable. This is solely a viewer and input tool.

Formulas in Excel spreadsheets

As for the formulas, there are a lot of them in the program. Some of them are unknown to many users in general. Of course, to understand all of them, you can carefully read the same reference manual, but the program also provides a special opportunity for automation of the process.

If you click the " f _x " button (or the " = " sign) on the left, a list will be displayed, from which you can select the desired action, which will save the user from manually entering the formula.

There is one more frequently used remedy. This is an auto-sum function, represented as a button on the toolbar. Here, too, the formula will not be introduced. It is enough to activate the cell in the row and column after the selected range, where it is supposed to be calculated, and click on the button. And this is not the only example.

Interconnected data, sheets, files and cross-references

As for interlinked links, data from another location in this document, a third-party file, data from some Internet resource or an executable script can be attached to any cell and sheet. This allows you to even save disk space and reduce the original size of the document itself. Naturally, with how to create such interrelations, it is necessary to understand carefully. But, as they say, there would be a desire.

Add-ins, diagrams and graphs

In terms of additional tools and capabilities, MS Excel spreadsheets provide the user with a wide choice. Not to mention specific add-ons or executable Java or Visual Basic scripts, let's stop at creating graphical visual tools for viewing the analysis results.

It is clear that drawing a chart or building a graph based on a huge amount of dependent data manually, and then inserting such a graphical object into a table as a separate file or an attached image is not something everyone wants.

That is why their automatic creation is used with a preliminary choice of type and type. It is clear that they are based on a certain data area. Just as in the construction of graphs and diagrams, it can be argued that the main element of the spreadsheet is the selected area or several areas on different sheets or in different attached files, from which the values of variables and dependent computational results will be taken.

Applying filters

In some cases, you may need to use special filters that are installed on one or more columns. In the simplest form, it helps to search for data, text or values in the entire column. On coincidence, all the results found will be shown separately.

If there are dependencies, together with the filtered data of one column, the remaining values located in the other columns and rows will be displayed. But this is the simplest example, because each user filter has its own submenu with certain search criteria or a specific setting.

Conclusion

Of course, to consider in one article all the features of the MS Excel software package is simply impossible. At least here you can understand which elements are the main ones in the tables, based on each specific case or situation, and also at least a little understanding, so to speak, with the basics of work in this unique program. But to fully master it will have to work hard. Often, and the developers themselves do not always know what their offspring are capable of.