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What is a spreadsheet? A spreadsheet is a grid of rows (usually numbered 1,2,3...) and columns (usually lettered A,B,C...). Each cell in this grid can contain numbers, text or formulas. The formulas can refer to the contents of other cells. For detailed descriptions of terms see the A to Z of spreadsheets. This page uses an interactive Java spreadsheet (available from JOLT) to show you more.

Example 1 Text and numbers. Cells can contain text as in a1 and a2, or numbers as in b1 and b2. Now click in these cells and change their values.

Example 2 Numbers and formulas. Cell a1 contains the value 10 and cell b1 contains the value 25. Cell c1 contains a formula that adds these values together and shows the total, 35. (The results of formulas are always shown here in blue.) Now click in cell a1 and change its value. You will see that the total in c1 changes automatically. Also, if you click in cell c1 you will see the formula =a1+b1 displayed in the blue bar.

Example 3 More formulas. What is being calculated in cell c3? Now click in cell c3 and see the formula displayed. Were you correct?

Example 4 You can add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers using formulas. Change some of the values in a1or a2 and observe what happens in column c. Look at the formulas in column c.