Read and Interpret a Spread Sheet

Spreadsheets come from a variety of programs such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc, Numbers and Corel Quattro. Just recently, online applications like Google Documents have allowed users to create spreadsheets via the web. But understanding a spreadsheet can be difficult if you don't approach it with the correct mindset. Follow these steps when reading and interpreting a spreadsheet.

Steps

1. Understand what a spreadsheet is. In the present day, a spreadsheet is used to organize data in boxes (known as cells).
   
   
   • Spreadsheets are sometimes just glorified lists detailing names and numbers. Other times, they add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers and percentages to make data make sense.
2. Understand the way a spreadsheet is organized. Think in lines. Data is presented either horizontally, vertically, or both.
   
   
   • A typical spreadsheet looks like a table with names or categories on the left or right going down (vertically) and another set of names or categories on the top or bottom going across (horizontally). The data is represented in between this area.
   • To find a particular data point, follow one vertical category that you need to a horizontal category that you need on the same line.
3. Extrapolate the data for interpretation. You have to understand what is happening in each cell. Sometimes data is just a number that means something to someone. Other times, data is a calculation based on other data. This can be as simple as a sum of data points, or as complicated as finding the average of certain data points and comparing them to other averages. It's just a matter of who has created the spreadsheet and what their intention is.

Tips

• A good way to interpret a cell is to look around that cell or in the vertical or horizontal columns. Key words like "Total" or "Average" will indicate that that row or column means.
• Also note formatting like bold and italics which usually are intended to draw your attention to an important calculation like a total or average.
• When all else fails, try talking to the person who created the spreadsheet. They will know more details about the data and how it should be interpreted.

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References

• OpenOffice.org - A free open-source office application suite
• Google Docs

See also

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• Edit the Contents of a Spreadsheet Cell
• Create an XL Worksheet for Continued Fractions
• Create a Graph Using a Spreadsheet
• Add a Column in a Pivot Table
• Create a Spirallic Numbers Dataset
• Do Cost Volume Profit Analysis
• Bulldog Through an Intellectually Simple Problem
• Use the Newton Raphson Method of Quickly Finding Roots
• Add Two Cells Already Containing Sum of Other Formulas

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