Excel Definitions

1. Workbook vs. Worksheet
2. Cell
3. Row 
4. Column
5. Formula
6. Functions

Workbook vs. Worksheet – when you open Excel, a new file is created called Book 1 (until you name it differently). It is called “Book” because it is a Workbook that is initially made up of three Worksheets (accessible from the tabs in the lower left corner of your excel window - see Fig. 1). Think of a three ring binder with three sheets of paper in it. As with a binder, you can:

•    Add sheets to your Workbook: Insert > Worksheet, or click on the new worksheet tab to the right of the tabs for your existing worksheets

•    Delete worksheets: by right-clicking on the tab of the worksheet you wish to delete, then selecting “delete”

•    Re-arrange them: by clicking on the worksheet tab and dragging it to the location you desire

•    Rename worksheets: by double-clicking on the worksheet title

Cell – cells are the basic rectangular building blocks of a spreadsheet. They are assigned an address, gen-erally referred to as a cell reference, according to their column and row (e.g. the cell in column B at row 3 is referenced as cell B3).

Row – rows travel horizontally and are numbered. 

Column – columns travel vertically and are assigned letters.

Formula – a mathematical formula used to calculate a result based on data from one or more other cells. Often they consist of some combination of the standard mathematical operators ( +, -, *, /) (e.g.: =(A1+A5)/B13), but they may also include functions (see below). When you type a formula into a cell, that cell will generally display the result obtained by the formula, rather than the formula itself.

Functions – pre-written formulae that perform common (and not so common) calculations, such as sum-mation and averaging. You can combine many functions and operators in a single formula to obtain more complex results (e.g.: =SUM(A1:A13)).