Why Is it Important to Have Formulas in Spreadsheets?
The use of formulas in spreadsheets can greatly facilitate a person's productivity. The formulas used may carry out an extensive calculation all at once, or it may be used to analyze data at various points throughout the calculation. The same formula can be applied to a a great number of cells simultaneously, which can save arduous labor.
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History
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Spreadsheets as we know them today were first implemented in the 1960s, on computers programmed in FORTRAN. Early spreadsheet software was able to apply formulas to entire rows or entire columns of input, rather than to individual cells or groups of cells. VisiCalc, released in 1979, was heralded as "the first electronic spreadsheet" by PC World. VisiCalc is much more like modern spreadsheets than its predecessors, and featured things such as an interactive UI, automatic cell updates and cell-referenced formula generation.
What are Spreadsheets?
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The term "spreadsheet" refers to a specific type of working interface. VisiCalc Co-Creator Dan Bricklin referred to the "basic concept" of a spreadsheet as "organizing rows and columns that reference each other, absolute and relative copy operations, and a grid that isn't dedicated for any particular purpose." Spreadsheets give us a blank grid to fill with data, and allow the use of formulas and calculations to take data from specific locations and apply operations to it.
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Scope of Formulas
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Formulas in a spreadsheet can range in scope and complexity. It is possible to apply a formula to just one cell. However, the real productive value in spreadsheets is the ease in which a formula can be applied to many cells at once. Typically, a calculation is applied to a single set of data, checked by hand, and then applied to the entire set to avoid the need for repeating the calculation.
Applications of Spreadsheets
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Spreadsheets are used in a very wide array of applications. They can be used for anything from managing and processing data sets in research experiments to calculating wages for payroll or tracking schedules. Any application that involves a calculation that will be done more than once, so that a general formula can be applied, will typically be done in a spreadsheet.
Inputting Formulas
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Formulas are typically written in the same syntax as used in programming. The four basic operators are "+", "-", "/" and "*", for additions, subtraction, division and multiplication, respectively. Exponents can be written as "a^b" or sometimes as "aEb", depending on the software used. Whitespace is typically not a consideration, so "a^b" would be the same as "a ^ b". Variable are often declared as cell pointers. If you wanted to add two cells together, you would select a target cell and type in "=A1+B1". This can be done by hand, or by selecting (clicking on) specific cells as you write the formula.
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References
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