Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet programs are widely considered to be the most important application ever invented for personal computers.  Spreadsheets helped revolutionize some industries because they put the power of forecasting and reviewing complex mathematical and financial information into the hands of everyday computer users.

A spreadsheet is a large grid of rows and columns.  The rows progress up and down the spreadsheet and are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.  You can have over 16,000 rows in a Gobe Productive spreadsheet.  Columns progress across the top of the grid and are lettered A, B, C, D etc.  Columns can go up to ZZ, that's 702 columns.   All total, you can have nearly  11,500,866 cells in a Gobe Productive spreadsheet. 

Example of a spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets help you organize and calculate information, particularly numeric information.  For example, you can use a spreadsheet to keep track of finances, do a cost-benefit analysis on a new purchase, layout a schedule, or arrange text into easy-to-read columns.

Before you start working with spreadsheets, it is a good idea to read the next topic, Working in the Spreadsheet Environment


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