GeoGebra
GeoGebra
has a built-in spreadsheet, which you can access by clicking Spreadsheet
under
View
in
Menu
.
The individual boxes in a spreadsheet are called cells. Each cell can store both text and numbers. The cells are named according to their column name (letters) and row number. For example, the cell in the third column and the fourth row is called C4
.
The calculations in Spreadsheet
are done using formulas. These are the mathematical expressions themselves, but they need to be entered in a specific way, always starting with an equals sign =
. You’ll learn how to use formulas in Item 4 below.
You can also use commands inside cells, but we’re not going to look at those in this entry. Instead, they’ll be reviewed in the GeoGebra
entries for their respective topics.
GeoGebra
Instruction 1
Calculations in Spreadsheet
Using Formulas
- 1.
- Open
Spreadsheet
underView
inMenu
so you can follow along with these instructions. - 2.
- When you want to do calculations in
Spreadsheet
, insert each of the numbers used in your calculations in an individual cell first. Say you want to compute . Enter36
in cellA1
, then enter87
in cellA2
. - 3.
- Type
=
in an empty cell, sayA3
. Then, type your calculation, but instead of entering the same numbers again, use the names of the cells where your numbers are. The contents of this cell now look like this:=A1+A2
This is an example of a formula—specifically, the formula for adding the two numbers in cells
A1
andA2
. PressEnter
when you’re done. The answer123
should be displayed. - 4.
- The main advantage of typing your numbers individually in
Spreadsheet
, is that you can change the numbers in a cell, and the calculations using that number will update automatically. If you change the number36
in cellA1
to46
and pressEnter
, you’ll see that the number in cellA3
changes from123
to133
. This is because the formula is set to add the numbers of cellsA1
andA2
, as mentioned earlier. So changing any of the numbers in the other cells, changes the sum as well.
GeoGebra
Instruction 2
Displaying Formulas
By default, the formulas in the cells are hidden, and the cells instead show the results of computations given by the formulas. To display/hide formulas in Spreadsheet
, press Ctrl+D
on PC or Cmd+D
on MAC.