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Spreadsheet Intermediate Tutorial

As mentioned earlier, a spreadsheet is a calculator. Not only can you add two numbers, but you can add two cells. Cell referencing is where the power of a spreadsheet lies. 


 A B C D
1 Item Budget January February
2 Rent $650 $650 $650
3 Groceries $200 $195 $210
4 Utilities $250 $250 $250
5 Totals  =650+200+250   =C2+C3+C4   =SUM(D2:D4) 

Row 5 of the table shows formulas to add the values of the cells above. In column B they are added as you would in a calculator. In a spreadsheet you should never retype numbers that are on the sheet. In column C they are added using the cell references. When a number on the sheet is needed we should always use its cell reference. In column D they are added using the function SUM(). Notice that the argument of the function is D2:D4. The colon means that all cells in between D2 and D4 should be used. This is referred to as a range of values. The method in column D is the best method to use.

Check out the next few tutorials, Common Spreadsheet Tasks Links to an external site., at GCFlearnfree.org Links to an external site. to learn more. Complete Google Sheets tutorials 12 through 16 Links to an external site. and report back in the following assignment. Be sure to choose a relevant name for each file you copy from the challenges and move it to your new folder for the sheets challenges created earlier. 

Each of the lessons below has a challenge to complete. Be sure to choose a relevant name for each file you copy from the challenges and move it to your new folder for the sheets challenges created earlier. 

After completing each of these challenges you will need to provide a shared link to the folder you put them in from your Google Drive. You will provide this link in the assignment following this tutorial.