Tomorrow’s Technology
and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Productivity Applications
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 1
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
The Malleable Matrix
The spreadsheet consists of:
 Cells (the intersection
of a row and column)
 Addresses (column letter and
row number, e.g., A1, C12)
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Cell A1
Cell
C12
Slide 2
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Spreadsheets can contain:
 Values, such as numbers and
dates
 Labels, such as column and
report headings, that explain
what the values mean
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 3
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Formulas allow you to create instructions using mathematical
expressions and commands.
+ (plus)
- (minus)
*(multiplication)
/ (division)
Sum
Average
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 4
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Screen Test:
Creating a Worksheet with Microsoft Excel
 Spreadsheet programs work in much the same way and share
most of these features:
 Spreadsheets offer many automatic features such as replication of data.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 5
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
 Formulas can be:
 Relative, so they refer to different cells when they are copied
 Absolute, so the formula references never change when they are copied
When the formula in column B
is copied to column C,
it changes relative to the new
column.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 7
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
 Automatic recalculation
 Any time a change is entered into the spreadsheet, all data related to
the change automatically updates.
When a value is
entered in column E
or F the value of the
related formula in
column G is
automatically
updated.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 8
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
 Functions (e.g., SUM, AVG,
SQRT) automate complex
calculations.
 Macros store keystrokes and
commands so they can be played
back automatically.
 Templates offer ready-to-use
worksheets with labels and
formulas already entered.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 9
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
 Linking spreadsheets together
 When the values change in one spreadsheet,
the data is automatically updated in all
linked spreadsheets.
 Database capabilities
 Search for information
 Sort the data by a specific criteria
 Merge the data with a word processor
 Generate reports
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 10
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Rules of Thumb: Avoiding Spreadsheet Pitfalls
 Plan the worksheet before you start entering values
and formulas.
 Make your assumptions as accurate as possible.
 Double-check every formula and value.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 11
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Rules of Thumb (continued)





Make formulas readable.
Check your output against other systems.
Build in cross-checks.
Change the input data values and study the results.
Take advantage of pre-programmed functions, templates,
and macros..
 Use a spreadsheet as a decision-making aid, not as a
decision-maker.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 12
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
“What If?” Questions
 Spreadsheets allow you to change numbers and
instantly see the effects of those changes.
 “What if I enter this value?”
 Equation solvers
 Some spreadsheets generate data needed to fit a given equation and
target value.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 13
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Spreadsheet Graphics:
From Digits to
Drawings
 Charts allow you to turn
numbers into visual data.
 Pie charts show proportions
relative to the whole.
 Line charts show trends or
relationships over time.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
100
90
80
60
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20
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1st
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Slide 14
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation


Use bar charts if data falls
into a few categories.
Use scatter charts to
discover, rather than to
display, a relationship
between two variables.
180
160
140
120
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1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
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© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
0.5
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Slide 15
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
The Spreadsheet: Software for
Simulation and Speculation
Rules of Thumb: Making Smart Charts
 Choose the right chart for the job.
 Think about the message you’re trying to convey.
 Pie charts, bar charts, line charts, and scatter charts are not interchangeable.
 Keep it simple, familiar, and understandable.
 Use charts in magazines, books, and newspapers as models.
 Strive to reveal the truth, not hide it.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 16
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Statistical Software: Beyond Spreadsheets
Automatic Mathematics
 Mathematics processing software
 Software turns abstract mathematical relationships into visual
objects (Example: Mathematica by Wolfram).
 Generally, they include an interactive, wizard-like questionand-answer mode, a programming language, and tools for
creating interactive documents that combine text, numerical
expressions, and graphics.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 17
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Statistical Software: Beyond Spreadsheets
Statistics and Data Analysis
 Statistical and data analysis software
 Collects and analyzes data that tests the
strength of data relationships
 Can produce graphs showing how two
or more variables relate to each other
 Can often uncover trends by browsing
through two- and three-dimensional
graphs of data, looking for unusual
patterns in the dots and lines that
appear on the screen
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 18
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Statistical Software: Beyond Spreadsheets
Scientific Visualization
 Scientific visualization software uses shape, location in space,
color, brightness, and motion to help us visualize data.
 Visualization helps researchers see relationships that might
have been obscure or even impossible to grasp without
computer-aided visualization tools.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 19
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Calculated Risks: Computer Modeling
and Simulation
 Computer modeling uses computers to create abstract models
of objects, organisms, organizations, and processes.
 Examples of popular computer models:
 Games (chess boards, sports arenas, and mythological societies)
 Models of organisms, objects, and organizations
 Flight simulators and simulations of science lab activities
 Business, city, or nation management simulations
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 20
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Calculated Risks: Computer Modeling
and Simulation
Computer Simulations: The Risk
 GIGO Revisited
 The accuracy of a simulation depends on how closely its mathematical
model corresponds to the system being simulated.
 Some models suffer from faulty assumptions.
 Some models contain hidden assumptions that may not even be obvious
to their creators.
 Some models go astray simply because of clerical or human errors.
 Still, garbage in, garbage out is a basic rule of simulation.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Slide 21
Tomorrow’s Technology and You 8/e
Chapter 5
Calculated Risks: Computer Modeling
and Simulation
 The Illusion of Infallibility
 A computer simulation, whether generated by a
PC spreadsheet or churned out by a
supercomputer, can be an invaluable decisionmaking aid.
 The risk is that the people who make decisions
with computers will turn over too much of their
decision-making power to the computer.
 Risks can be magnified because people take
computers seriously.
© 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
“Trust your feelings.”
Jedi Master in Star
Wars
Slide 22