What is meant by the use of cell references when creating formulas in a spreadsheet program?

Answer 1

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.

Answer 2

Spreadsheets are grids of boxes, which are called cells, arranged in vertical columns and horizontal rows.

Each column is labelled alphabetically from A to Z and then AA, AB,AC... BA, BB, BC etc. and each row is labelled with a number, starting at 1.

Each individual cell obviously occurs where a (vertical) column meets a (horizontal) row, so the very first cell at the junction of column A and row 1 is called A1. The cell where column C meets row6 is called C6 - the column letter always comes before the row number.

Each cell can contain either numerical or text information, or it can contain a formula that uses the information from other cells. For example, if you were preparing a worksheet to calculate how much to charge for a job you could have the rate per hour in one cell and the number of hours worked in another cell.

Imagine that the rate per hour is in cell B3 and the number of hours worked in cell E12, and you wanted to calculate how much you had earned for those hours in cell E13. To do that you would enter this formula in cell E13:

=B3*E2

You will see from that example that all formulas start with the = symbol and that * is the symbol for multiplication. The symbol for division is /.

Answer 3

They can be called operands. The numbers could be called values, though this would not apply to a cell reference.