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Spread sheets. What does a spread sheet do?. A spread sheet is a 2D array of cells which allows the user to input alphanumeric values embedded in a function or feature in order to produce a form of output.
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What does a spread sheet do? A spread sheet is a 2D array of cells which allows the user to input alphanumeric values embedded in a function or feature in order to produce a form of output. Spread sheets allow a user to create complex formulas, for example – IF, SUM, MIN, MAX, AVERAGE and V LOOKUP tables. These functions allow a user to automatically calculate a contents of a cell without hard typing it in.
Who uses spread sheets? Spread sheets were originally designed for the accounting/financial departments in a business but now they are more widely available to the public. Spread sheet units are now taught in schools, colleges, universities and there are courses which are also available. Different people will use spread sheets for different tasks, for example a teacher will use a spread sheet to store grades where as an accountant would use it keep track of any sales that have been made.
How can spread sheets solve complex problems? Functions in a spread sheet can be used to solve some of the problems that a user might have, for example formulas can add, subtract, multiply or divide values from any number of cells in order to create a result in another cell. The mathematical rules of BODMAS/BIDMAS can be applied to a cell when it takes values from another cell or cells in the spread sheet. For example, =(((B2*G6)*(C3/D2)*0.2)-E3)
How can organisations use interpretation methods to analyse data? Businesses will often use spread sheets to forecast patterns and trends from a collection of data and spread sheets will often contain charts and graphs which will make this process easier. Data mining programs can be run using a spread sheet as a starting point, this allows business to extract groups of data which will allow them to better predict future sales. Predictive modelling can also be used to forecast sales.
How can organisations use interpretation methods to analyse data? (cont.) An example of this could be when a supermarket such as Sainsbury’s analyses their sales data to predict which alcoholic beverage will sell the most and which one will sell the least, in the coming months. Once they have predicted this information they can then take steps to increase their sales such as reducing the price of a drink that might sell more over the coming months and advertising drinks that aren’t doing as well.