Spreadsheets -- Important Terms

1. Workbook: A workbook is a collection of worksheets that are saved

together in one file.

2. Worksheet: A worksheet is the grid of columns and rows that

information is inputted into. In many spreadsheet applications (such as
Microsoft Excel) one file -- called a workbook -- can contain several
worksheets. Worksheets can be named using the sheet tabs of the bottom
of the spreadsheet window. The sheet tabs can also be used to switch
from one worksheet to another within a workbook.

3. Rows: Rows run horizontally on the spreadsheet screen. An Excel

spreadsheet contains 16,384 rows which are labeled numerically.

4. Column: Columns run vertically on the spreadsheet screen. An Excel

spreadsheet contains 256 columns that are labeled with the letters of the
alphabet. When the column labels reach letter "Z" they continue on with
AA, AB, AC...... AZ and then BA, BB, BC.....BZ etc.

5. Cell: A cell is a rectangular area formed by the intersection of a column

and a row. Cells are identified by the Cell Name (or Reference, which is
found by combining the Column Letter with the Row Number. For
example the cell in Column "C" in Row "3" would be cell C3. Cells may
contain Labels, Numbers, Formulae or Functions.

6. Range: A range is a group of cells in a spreadsheet that have been

selected. (Example: A3:B5).

7. Cell Reference: A cell reference is the name of the cell that is found by
combining the Column Letter with the Row Number. For example the
cell in Column "C" in Row "3" would be cell C3.

8. Absolute Cell Reference: An absolute cell reference is one that does not
change when it is copied. To make a cell reference absolute, you must
include a $ before the reference (ex: $C$4).The other type of reference is
a Relative Reference.
 9. Relative Reference: A relative cell reference is one that changes when it
is copied. For example, if a formula that contains the cell reference "C4"
is copied to the next cell to the right, the reference will change to D4
(updating the column letter). If the same formula is copied down one cell,
the reference will change to "C5" (updating the row number). The other
type of reference is an Absolute Reference.

10.Labels: Labels refer to text that is typed into the cells of a spreadsheet.
Labels have no numeric value and cannot be used in a formula or
function.

11. Sort: Sorting is used to arrange information in a particular order.

12. Filter: Filtering will allow you to quickly find the information that you
are looking for in a spreadsheet. When you apply a filter, you control the
data that is displayed on the screen by setting criteria. Data contained in
rows that don't meet your criteria will temporarily disappear from view
when the filter is applied. When the filter is cleared, all of the data will once
again appear in the spreadsheet.

13.Formula: A formula is an expression which calculates the value of a cell .

It is written using cell references and must begin with an equal sign "=" to
distinguish it from a label. An example of a formula would be:
=A3+C3 which would take whatever value was entered into cell A3 and
add it to the value that was typed into C3. After typing the formula and
pressing the Enter key, the resulting value will be displayed.

14.Function: Functions are predefined formulae, which are available in

Excel. Like formulae, functions begin with an equal sign "=" and use cell
references in their format. One commonly used function is the Sum
function, which will add up the values in a range. The function:
=sum(H2:H25) would add all values contained in cells H2 through H25
and return the result when the enter key is pressed.
DATABASE

A database is a collection of data or information which is held together in an

organised or logical way.

TABLES

A table stores all the records in a database for a particular category.

Databases store data or information in tables, just like the one below:

The table allows you to see all of the records stored in the database.

Tables can store many records, from a few dozen for a small database up to
millions for a large company database.
RECORDS

A record is a set of related information about a person or a thing.

Each table has a set of records.

In the table below, all of the information about each cartoon character is stored
in a 'row' or 'record'.

1. What information could you find in the record for Cat Woman?

2. What records do you think are stored on the database at your school?

3. How about your school library - what records would be stored on their
database?

FIELDS

A 'field' is a piece of data or information about a person or thing.

A record is made up of lots of individual pieces of information.

Look at Wonder Woman's record: it stores her first name, last name, address,
city and age. Each of these individual pieces of information in a record is called a
'field'.
1. What fields can you find about Tweety Bird?

2. What fields do you think would be stored in your student record in the school
database?

3. What fields would be stored in a book record in the school library database?
DATA TYPES
When you are about to set up a database, you need to think about the 'data
type' which you will use for each field.

The most common data types are:

DATA TYPES EXAMPLES

Alphanumeric or Text Forename: James

This allows you to type in text, numbers and symbols Surname: Smith

Address: 73, High Street

Postcode: CV34 5TR

Car Registration: EP06 5TV

Telephone Number: 01926

123456*

Number
15
This allows a whole number or a decimal number
21.35
Only numbers can be entered, no letters or symbols

Currency
£5.75
This automatically formats the data to have a £ or $ or Euro
symbol in front of the data and also ensures there are two $54.99
decimal places.

Date/Time Long Date: 20 February

2006
This restricts data entry to 1-31 for day (28 or 30 in appropriate
months) and 1-12 for month. Medium Date: 20-Feb-06

It checks that a date can actually exist, for example, it would not Short Date: 20/02/06
 DATA TYPES EXAMPLES

allow 31/02/06 to be entered.

Long Time: 18:21:35
It formats the data into long, medium or short date/time
Medium Time: 06:21 PM

Short Time: 18:21

Autonumber Record 1: 1

This datatype will automatically increase by 1 as records are Record 2: 2

added to the database
Record 3: 3

Logical, Boolean, Yes/No Yes/No

This datatype is often referred to as different things, you may Male/Female

hear it called 'logical', or 'boolean' or 'yes/no'.
Hot/Cold
All it means is that the data is restricted to one of only two
choices On/Off

You would think that 'telephone number' should be a 'number' data type.
However all telephone numbers start with a 0 and you can't put a 0 in front of a
'number' datatype, so telephone number needs to be set as a 'text' datatype.

Here is a database table with the different data types set up for you to see: