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Spreadsheet Vocabulary


Active Cell
Cell into which any text or numbers that are entered will be placed.
Cell address
Name of cell, taken from the column letter and the row number, e.g. B4 which is column B, the 4th line.
A rectangle in a spreadsheet.
A graph based on selected cells in a spreadsheet. There are many types of charts.
A vertical line of cells, indicated by a letter.
A statement that uses cell addresses and/or numbers and mathematical signs to designate a calculation. The result of the calculation is placed in the cell where the formula is created.
Constant values in a cell. Numbers can consist only of the characters 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 _ + / . E and e. If a numerical entry is too large for the physical viewing size of a cell, or if the result of a formula is too large you may see a group of "#"symbols, e.g. ##########. Make the column larger to see the full number by dragging the right column line. Or you may see a scientific number, e.g. 23423E+11 instead of the 234234234234 that you entered.
Numerical formats
The way that the numbers appear in the cell(s). Formatting choices include currency (adds a $ and two decimals to all numbers in the formatted cell(s).), percentage (adds a % and in a formula automatically treats the number as part of 1, e.g. 86% will be treated as 0.86).
Range of cells
A group of cells that you wish to treat as a group, may be contiguous as for example, cells C1 to E3 in table 7-4. Can also be noncontiguous. A range of cells can be named.
Referenced Cell
A cell that is included in a formula in another cell. This cell may be in the same worksheet, another worksheet in the same workbook, or in another workbook.
A horizontal line of cells, indicated by a number.
Any non-numerical entry. If a cell contains only numbers the data in that cell will be treated as if it were a number unless preceded by an apostrophe (').
Collection of related spreadsheets that are saved as one file.
One spreadsheet in a workbook.


For more vocabulary see the glossary

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Created November 19, 2011

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