Change a number and watch the total follow
The sheet below already has a formula in it. B6 holds =B2+B3+B4, which adds the three figures above it. You do not have to write it and you do not have to understand it in detail yet. Click B6 and compare two things: the number the cell shows, and the instruction the formula bar shows. They are not the same thing, and that difference is most of what a spreadsheet is.
Now change one of the figures the formula points at. The total updates immediately, with nothing to press and nothing to refresh. That is the difference between a spreadsheet and a sheet of paper, and it is why typing an answer in by hand counts as a mistake throughout this course: it looks identical today and quietly stops being true tomorrow.
B6 adds the three figures above it. Change B3 to 25 and press Enter.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Week | Sales | |||
| 2 | Week 1 | 40 | |||
| 3 | Week 2 | 12 | |||
| 4 | Week 3 | 8 | |||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | Total | 60 | |||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 |
Click a cell and type. Enter commits, Tab moves right, F2 edits in place, Ctrl+Z undoes. Drag the small square at the corner of a cell to fill. Ctrl+Enter checks your answer.