Essential Spreadsheets: Excel and Google Sheets

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, workspace components, formatting conventions, arithmetic rules, and advanced functions in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

Active cell

The currently selected cell in a spreadsheet where any typed content is entered and any applied formatting takes effect.

Formula bar

The bar located above the sheet grid that displays the actual content or formula of the active cell and allows direct editing.

Text wrap

A formatting setting that fits overflowing text into multiple lines within a single cell by increasing the row height.

Text data

Spreadsheet cell content that is left-aligned by default; can be forced by preceding the entry with a single quotation mark.

Numeric data

Cell content right-aligned by default, stored internally up to $15$ significant figures, from which leading zeros are automatically removed.

Auto Fill

A feature that automatically generates and continues a series of values or copies formulae when dragging the fill handle across adjacent cells.

Relative reference

A cell reference in a formula that automatically updates its row numbers or column letters relative to the direction it is copied.

Absolute reference

A cell reference that uses dollar signs before both column and row coordinates (such as B$1) to lock the reference when copied or replicated.

Mixed reference

A cell reference locking either only the column or only the row with a dollar sign (such as $B2$ or B$2) while allowing the other coordinate to adjust.

Named range

A descriptive label assigned to a cell or cell range that substitutes for cell addresses in formulae, avoiding dollar references and clarifying intent.

IF function

A logical function evaluating a condition to return one result if true and an alternative result if false: $=IF(\text{condition}, \text{Result if true}, \text{Result if false})$.

COUNT

A function that totals the number of numerical values present in a specified range of cells.

COUNTA

A function that counts the total number of non-blank cells containing all types of values within a range.

COUNTBLANK

A function that determines the quantity of empty or blank cells contained within a selected range.

COUNTUNIQUE

A Google Sheets-specific function that calculates the number of distinct or unique values within a given range.

SUMIF

A conditional function that adds cells meeting a designated criterion, using either a single range or an optional separate total range.

AVERAGEIF

A conditional function that computes the arithmetic mean of cells meeting a specified criterion, optionally referencing a separate total range.

COUNTIFS

A function that counts the number of rows satisfying all defined criteria across multiple paired criteria ranges.

SUMIFS

A function that adds the values in a total range that satisfy all specified conditions across multiple paired criteria ranges.

AVERAGEIFS

A function that calculates the mean of values in an average range that meet all conditions defined across multiple criteria ranges.

TODAY()

A date function requiring no arguments that returns the current date from the computer's internal clock and updates daily.

NOW()

A date and time function requiring no arguments that returns the current system date and time, updating whenever changes are made.

SUBTOTAL

A function performing specified calculations on a range using numeric function codes (such as $1$ for AVERAGE or $9$ for SUM) while ignoring rows hidden by filters.

MEDIAN

A statistical function that returns the middle numerical value in a designated set or range of data.

MODE

A statistical function returning the most frequently occurring value in a range, returning only a single value in spreadsheets.

ABS

A mathematical function that strips any negative sign from a number to return its non-negative absolute value.

ROUND

A function that rounds a number to a specified number of decimal places using standard rounding rules, rounding to a whole number if places are omitted.

CEILING

A function that rounds a given numerical value upward to the nearest multiple of a specified precision factor.

FLOOR

A function that rounds a given numerical value downward to the nearest multiple of a specified precision factor.

INT

A function that rounds a numeric value down to the nearest integer below.

MOD

A function that computes the remainder resulting from dividing one numerical value by another: $=MOD(\text{value1}, \text{value2})$.

TRIM

A text function that deletes any extra leading or trailing whitespace characters from a text string.

SPLIT

A Google Sheets function that divides a text string into separate adjacent cells based on a specified delimiter character.

Text to Columns

An Excel data tool used to parse and divide delimited or fixed-width text from one column into multiple separate columns.