BECE JHS
A spreadsheet stores values in cells and calculates from them. Change one number and every formula that uses it updates.
A spreadsheet is a grid. A column runs down and is named with a letter. A row runs across and is named with a number. A cell is where they meet, so cell B3 is in column B and row 3. You type a label, a number, or a formula. A formula starts with the equals sign. =B2+B3 adds the values in those two cells. =SUM(B2:B5) adds the block from B2 to B5. The colon in that notation means "through". It is part of the formula, not a punctuation mark in your sentence.
The point of a formula is that it refers to cells, not to a number you typed once. If the price in B2 changes, the total changes with it. Typing the total by hand breaks that link. Use a formula for any result the question asks the computer to work out. Copying a formula down a column adjusts the row numbers. That is why a mark scheme wants the formula, not only the answer a calculator would give.
A formula must start with =. SUM(B2:B5) without the equals sign is not yet a spreadsheet formula. Accept a correct alternative, such as =B2+B3+B4+B5 instead of SUM, when it adds the same cells. A label is text. A value is a number. Do not put units inside the cell that a formula will add, or the cell may stop being a number.
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
3 marks
(a) What is a cell in a spreadsheet? (2 marks)
(b) What does the address C5 mean? (1 mark)
(a) A cell is the box where a column and a row meet. It holds a label, a value or a formula.
(b) Column C and row 5.
2 marks
Cells B2, B3 and B4 contain 10, 20 and 30. Write a formula for cell B5 that adds them. (2 marks)
=B2+B3+B4
=SUM(B2:B4) is also correct.
2 marks
Explain why a shopkeeper should use a formula for the total, rather than typing the total by hand. (2 marks)
If a price changes, the formula recalculates the total. A typed total stays wrong until someone remembers to change it.
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Practise ICT freeStart with the equals sign, then the calculation. =B2+B3 adds two cells. =SUM(B2:B4) adds every cell from B2 through B4. Without the equals sign the program treats what you typed as text.
The cell is the box. The address names it. C5 means the box in column C and row 5. A formula uses addresses so it can find the values. All BECE ICT past questions