By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- say what a spreadsheet is, and why it beats a notebook and a calculator for figures
- name the parts of a sheet: cells, rows, columns, and the address of a cell
- tell a typed value from a formula, and see a formula recalculate when a number changes
- use the practice sheets in this course, which work the same way as Excel and Google Sheets
Every grid on these pages is a small, working spreadsheet. Click a cell and type, then press Enter. Press F2 (or double-click) to change what is already in a cell, Esc to give up an edit, and the arrow keys to move. The ↶ button (or Ctrl + Z) undoes a mistake, and Reset sheet puts the sheet back exactly as it started. Nothing you do here is saved or sent anywhere, so you cannot break anything.
On a phone or tablet: tap a cell, then type into the bar at the top of the sheet (the long box beside fx) and press the Enter key. The grid scrolls sideways if it is wider than the screen.
A table that can count
A spreadsheet is a table on a screen: rows going across, columns going down, and a box wherever a row and a column cross. You can type anything into a box: a name, a number, a date. So far it is only a neat notebook.
What makes it a spreadsheet is that a box can also hold an instruction to calculate. Ask it to add up a column, and it does, and it keeps the answer up to date whenever a number changes. This is why accountants, teachers, shopkeepers and engineers all use them.
Here is the menu of an imaginary tea house, the Malabar Tea House in Calicut, which we shall use throughout the course. Click a few cells and look at what appears in the long box at the top (the formula bar).
The parts of a sheet
Every sheet is built from the same few parts. Learn these names now: the rest of the course, and every help page on the internet, uses them.
| Part | What it is | In the menu above |
|---|---|---|
| Cell | One box. It holds one thing: a number, some text, a date or a formula. | The box that says Masala Tea |
| Column | A vertical line of cells, named with letters: A, B, C … | Column C holds the prices |
| Row | A horizontal line of cells, named with numbers: 1, 2, 3 … | Row 1 holds the headings |
| Cell address | The column letter followed by the row number, such as B3. It works like a street address: it names exactly one cell. | C2 is the price of Masala Tea |
| Range | A block of neighbouring cells, named by its first and last cell with a colon between them, such as C2:C13. | C2:C13 is every price |
| Name Box | The small box at the top left that shows the address of the selected cell. | It shows C2 when you click that cell |
| Formula bar | The long box beside fx. It shows what is really inside the selected cell. | It shows 15 for the price of Masala Tea |
| Sheet | One whole grid. A file (a “workbook”) can hold several sheets, shown as tabs along the bottom. | This one has a single sheet |
Two things are worth noticing. First, the column comes first in an address: B3 means column B, row 3, never the other way round. Second, the cell you click is called the active cell, and it has a thick border. Whatever you type goes into it.
What is shown, and what is inside
A cell can show one thing while holding another. The formula bar tells you the truth. In the small day's takings sheet below, column D shows amounts, but click cell D2 and the formula bar reveals =B2*C2. That is a formula: it always begins with an equals sign, and it tells the sheet to work something out.
Here =B2*C2 means “multiply what is in B2 by what is in C2”. (The star * means multiply; you will meet the others in Lesson 1.3.) Try it: change the number of cups in B2 from 12 to 20 and press Enter, and watch D2 and the total change on their own.
That is the whole idea of a spreadsheet. Nobody re-added the total: you changed one number and the sheet worked out everything that depended on it. On paper you would rub out four numbers and add them all again.
If you type 300 into a cell, the cell holds 300 for ever, until you change it. If you type =100+200, the cell holds a formula and shows 300, because that is the result. Both look the same on the sheet; the formula bar shows the difference. Most of this course is about writing good formulas.
Why not a calculator?
A calculator gives you an answer and forgets how it got there. A spreadsheet keeps the working. That brings three advantages that you will feel every time you use it:
- Changes flow through. Correct one price and every total that uses it is right again, instantly.
- The working can be checked. Anyone can click a cell and read exactly how its answer was made. Mistakes in figures are usually found this way.
- Work is copied, not repeated. Write a formula once, then copy it down a thousand rows. Lesson 1.4 shows how.
Excel, Google Sheets and this course
The most used spreadsheet programs are Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets; LibreOffice Calc and Apple Numbers are others. They look a little different, but the ideas in this course work in all of them. The formulas we use are written the same way in Excel and Google Sheets, and every one is checked against both before it appears in a lesson.
The practice sheets in these pages are a small, safe version made just for learning. They run in your browser, they need nothing installed, and they tell you clearly when an answer is right or wrong. A few things differ from the real programs, and each lesson says so where it matters: for example, you cannot save these sheets, and they have no menus for things the course does not teach. When you finish a lesson you can, if you like, type the same formulas into Excel or Google Sheets; they will behave identically.
All the money in this course is in rupees, and the tea house and the people in it are invented. The tea house's figures are made up so that we can practise; do not rely on them for anything else.
Quick check
Four questions to confirm the main ideas. Choose an answer to see the explanation.
1. What is the address of the cell in column C, row 5?
An address is the column letter first, then the row number: C5. A colon is used between two cells to name a range (such as C2:C5), not inside one address.
2. What makes a spreadsheet more useful than a paper table?
The power is in formulas: change one number and every result that depends on it is recalculated. Spreadsheets can also hold text and dates, and the number of rows is not the point.
3. A cell shows 75 but the formula bar shows =B2*C2. What does the cell hold?
The cell holds a formula (anything beginning with =). The sheet shows the result of the formula, 75, in the cell, and the formula itself in the formula bar.
4. Which is a range?
A range is a block of cells named by its first and last cell with a colon between: B2:B9 is the eight cells from B2 down to B9. B3 is a single cell address.
Summary
- A spreadsheet is a grid of cells that can also calculate. Formulas keep results up to date when numbers change.
- Columns are lettered, rows are numbered. A cell address is the column letter then the row number, such as B3. A range such as C2:C13 is a block of cells.
- The Name Box shows the active cell's address; the formula bar shows what the cell really holds.
- A formula always begins with an equals sign. A typed number or text stays as it is.
- The course works the same in Excel and Google Sheets. All practice sheets here can be reset, and nothing is saved.
Found a mistake on this page, or something unclear? Report a problem and mention “Sheets Lesson 1.1”.