MJIS Grade 8

Spreadsheets
A typical spreadsheet

Spreadsheet: Also known as a worksheet, a spreadsheet is a file that consists of cells in rows and
columns and can help arrange, calculate and sort data. The most commonly used spreadsheet
software is Microsoft Excel.

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Uses of Spreadsheets
1. To store data
2. To organize data (sort)
3. To manipulate data
4. To present data (numbers, charts, text)
Workbook: A workbook is a collection of one or more spreadsheets, also called worksheets, in a
single file.
Cell: This is where the information is stored that has been typed in. It is the intersection point of a
row and a column.
Cell Address: The name representing a cell is a cell address. Also known as cell reference.

Click on a cell to select it and you can see the cell address in the upper left hand corner. E.g. F6
Column: Columns are vertical and identified with letters.
Row: Rows are from left to right and identified by a number.
Conditional formatting: Quiz-1
6
7
• Conditional formatting is a tool that applies formatting to your data depending 1
6
on the rules/conditions that are set. 8
• Cells within a range can be shaded depending upon a condition. 6.5
0
• This tool appears in the HOME tab of the MS Excel software. 9.5
4
For example: the list indicates the marks of the students in the range between 0 and 8
6
10. Conditional formatting has been used with 2 conditions: 2
2
1. Shade cells in green whose marks are greater than or equal to 6
2. Shade cells in pink with red font where the marks are below 6

Data validation:

• Data validation is a feature that allows you to restrict the type of data or values users can
enter in a cell, such as a date range or whole numbers only.
• We can create a customized message which will appear when a user inserts any incorrect
value or an incorrect format.
• We can even create dropdowns as well, which saves unnecessary space.
• Data validation appears under the DATA tab in MS Excel.

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For example, if I wish to restrict the students’ marks between 0 and 10, then

Decimal is selected as marks can be in decimals like 6.5, 9.5. Basically, there are seven types of
data you can set:
Whole number Time
Decimal Text length
List Custom
Date

An error alert with a custom message can be set.

When a user enters an incorrect value, the alert pops up on the screen

Note: Data validation only ensures that the data is acceptable. It does not ensure that the data is
correct.
Formula: A formula is a statement written by the user for calculation purpose. It is user-defined.It
usually consists of mathematical operators such as +, -, *, / to create an equation.
Example: =A1+B1
Function: A function is a pre-defined formula within the software that performs a unique
operation. It is built-in within the software.
Example: =SUM(A1:A18)
Note: All functions and formulae begin with an equal to “=” sign
Spreadsheets have hundreds of functions used to perform calculations beyond simple arithmetic.
Some of the common functions include:
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MJIS Grade 8
SUM (adds up 2 or more cells)

AVERAGE (finds the mean of 2 or more cells)

MAX (finds the highest value in 2 or more cells)

MIN (finds the lowest value in 2 or more cells)

COUNT (counts the cells that contain numbers)

COUNTA (counts all non-blank cells)

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MJIS Grade 8
COUNTBLANK (counts all blank cells)

Other functions

Function name Purpose

DAY Get the day as a number (1-31) from a date

MONTH Get month as a number (1-12) from a date

YEAR Get the year from a date

HOUR Get the hour as a number (0-23) from a Time

MINUTE Get minute as a number (0-59) from time

SECOND Get the Second as a number (0-59) from a Time

NOW Get the current date and time

TODAY Get the current date

Autofill: AutoFill Option allows you to create an entire column or rows of data which are based on
the values from other cells. This feature fills cells with data that follows a pattern or that are based
on data in other cells.

Examples: Dates months days and numbers have been autofilled

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How to replicate:

• Select the cell which has to be replicated and

• Go to the bottom right corner where a cross ‘+’ appears.
• Hold the left mouse key and drag it to replicate in a row or a column until whichever cell
replication is required.
Filtering data:
• Filters can be used to narrow down the data in your worksheet, allowing you to view only
the information you need.
• The filter option can be found in the HOME tab as well as in the DATA tab
The below example shows the filtered data where it displays marks of students who scored 6 or
more marks in their quiz.

indicates filter

Chart: A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which the data is represented by symbols,
such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart.

Bar chart: A bar chart is a graph that shows horizontal bars

with the axis values for the bars displayed on the bottom of
the graph. You can use a bar chart when you want to
compare values across categories.

The Column Chart: The Column Chart very effectively shows

the comparison of one or more series of data points. It is
similar to bar chart except that the bars are vertical.

The horizontal axis is called the category axis while the

vertical axis is called the value axis.

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Line chart: A line graph (also called a line chart) is a simple but
powerful tool and is generally used to show changes over time.
The Line Chart is especially effective in displaying trends.

Pie charts: Pie charts (or circle graphs) are used to chart only
one variable at a time. They can be used when you want to
show what percent a particular item represents of a data
series.

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