1. Spreadsheet software

2. Spreadsheets

3. Components of spreadsheets
Labels - are used for titles, headings, names, and for identifying rows or columns of data.
Data - are the values (text or numbers) that you enter into the spreadsheet.
Formulas - are used to perform calculations on the cell contents.

4. Functions
A function is a specialized calculation that the spreadsheet software has memorized.
Average - for example, to find the average of the numbers in a range of cells from A3 to A10 you would use: =AVERAGE(A3:A10)
Sum =SUM(E3:P3) displays the total of all the cells from cells E3 to P3 inclusive.

5. The two types of cell referencing
Relative cell referencing
Absolute cell referencing

6. Relative referencing
This reference tells the spreadsheet that the cell to which it refers is 3 cells up and one cell to the left of cell B4.
If cell B4 is copied to another position, say E5, then the reference will still be to the same number of cells up and to the left so the reference will now be to cell D2.

7. Absolute referencing
With absolute cell referencing, if cell B4 contains a reference to cell A1, then if the contents of B4 are copied to a new position, then the reference will not be adjusted and it will still refer to cell A1.

8. The benefits of using spreadsheets
You can perform ‘what if’ investigations – you can make changes to the spreadsheet values to see what happens.
Automatic recalculation – when an item of data changes, all those cells that are connected to the changed cell by a formula will also change.
Accurate calculation – provided the formulas are all correct, the calculations on the numbers will always be correct.
It is easy to produce graphs and charts – once the data has been entered, it is very easy for the spreadsheet to produce graphs and charts based on it.