Study Guide: Spreadsheets - Introduction

We often need to manipulate and visualize numerical information. For example, as students, we are constantly receiving grades, determining average grades, and perhaps determining how many points are needed for a specific grade. Sometimes we need to graph data to determine if it contains tendencies or direction. Displaying data graphically can be very helpful as a means to interpret trends or to better understand how the data relates. You likely have information you would like to insert into a simple graph. For example, graduation rates by major and gender for the state colleges and universities can be conveniently entered into a spreadsheet where you can automate the tabulation and graphical display of the results. We will examine these types of problems as we move forward in this tutorial.