Spreadsheets

The purpose of a spreadsheet is to make.models that take any two or more

values and perform calculations using formulas.
A spreadsheet consists of a large table. Each cell containsone piece of
information.
A row isa horizontal collection of cells and is represented bya number.
A column isa vertical collection of cells and is represented bya letter.

Formulae
To get in to formula viewpress CTRL+
A formula isa simple calculation in a spreadsheet. Formulae begin with an =
sign and consist of cell references and make use of (),+,-,*,/
Column
letter

Simple
formula

Rules when working with spreadsheets

B4
C4
input
input
Always resize ALL columns when opening or
changing the view

Row
number

1. Click to
highlight all
the cells.

2. Double click
BETWEEN any
column headings.

Functions
Functions are used to perform complex calculations which refer to
ranges of cells.
All functions have the same form:
=FUNCTIONNAME(RANGE)
Some functions may contain more attributes. For example:
=ROUND(M,6)
To use most functions you must understand RANGES. A range is
simply the start and end cell reference of a group of cells.

Functions VLOOKUP
VLOOKUP is used to find a piece of data in a table.

In the example above we know the cell reference of the first tutor group, and the
table of tutors is stored separately:

So we can LOOKUP the tutor by finding the form in this table and looking one
column to the right.
VLOOKUP takes the form:
=VLOOKUP( What you are trying to find?, Where are you going to find it?, How
many columns across is the data?, FALSE)

MAX and MIN functions

MAX and MIN will find the largest/highest or smallest/lowest number given in a
range.

In this example, we will find the highest and lowest number in the range I6:M6

SUMIF function

SUMIF will add up all the numbers in a given range if they match a given criteria.
SUMIF takes the form:
=SUMIF(Range of cells to look in, what you are looking for, range to add numbers
up in)
This version will allow you to look for a value in one column and then jump
across to another column and add up the values there instead.
Note: Criteria must be in speech marks unless its a single number on its own.

COUNTIF
Countif will keep a tally of how many times a given criteria appears in a list.

In this example, we want to count how many times the text ABS appears in the
range I6:M6
Note: all text must go in quotes.
Nested Functions(using Round and Average in this example)

A nested function is simply where one function is used inside another. In this
example we calculate the average and then the answer to this calculation is
rounded- because it is inside a ROUND function!
Round simply rounds a number to a certain number of decimal places and takes
the form:
=ROUND(NUMBER, Amount of decimal places)
Average does exactly what it says- finds the average of a range of numbers.
IF

The IF function allows TWO different outcomes, based on a rule. An IF function

takes the form:
=IF(RULE, what to do/display if true, what to do/display if false)
In the example above, the value in P6 (their total score) must be higher or the
same as the value in B3 (the score needed for a certificate). If the value in P6 is

higher or the same, then the word Yes will appear in the cell. If the value in P6
is not higher or the same, then the word No will be displayed.
It is often a help to remember that you write an if statement exactly how you
would say it.
If their test score is higher or the same as the pass mark, THEN say Yes,
OTHERWISE say No.
Note the keywords: IF, THEN, OTHERWISE.

Nested IF

Sometimes we need to test more than one rule! The giveaway in the question is
the word AND.
The question here was A student is awarded a prize IF they have had a previous
certificate AND they require a certificate
There are clearly two things to check here:
1. Do they require a certificate?
2. Did they have a previous certificate?
The way to answer these questions is to break it down in to questions to be
answered and then write and IF for each one. So
1. Do they require a certificate = IF(S6=YES, , )
2. Did they have a previous certificate = IF(H6=YES, , )
Then we need to put them together:
=IF(S6=YES, ,), )
This means IF s6 IS yes then check if H6 is a YES. What do we do if S6 = No
(they do not require a certificate)? We say no because they will not get a prize
so we have this :

Finally, we fill in what happens if they do require a certificate but did not get a
previous one:
=IF(S6=YES, YES , NO), NO)

In words this is: if they require a certificate, then if they had a previous certificate
then yes they get a certificate, otherwise no they dont, If they do not require a
certificate then no they do not get a prize.