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Figure 1. One-dimensional Range. |
Figure 2. Two-dimensional Range. |
A range of cells is a group of adjacent cells that form a rectangle. Ranges allow operations to be conveniently applied to more than one cell. An operation might be a mathematical operation as in the formula =SUM(A1:A5), or a formatting operation such as "display these numbers with the currency symbol."
Most of the time ranges are not necessary, but a convenience. For example, if you needed to sum a column of 30 test scores you could specify each cell individually. However, specifying the cell references with a range value is much easier. For example:
ranges are sometimes required. For example, when you are creating a chart you must specify the range of cells that will be used to build the chart. A chart based on one value just isn't that interesting.
How are ranges specified? Ranges can be one- or two-dimensional. Ranges are identified by the cell in the upper left hand corner followed by a colon followed by the cell in the lower right hand corner. Figure 1 shows a one-dimensional range selection in a spreadsheet, and Figure 2 shows a two-dimensional range selection.
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Figure 1. One-dimensional Range. |
Figure 2. Two-dimensional Range. |
Also, note from the figures that one cell in the range remains unshaded. The unshaded cell is the first cell you clicked on when you started selecting the range. The unshaded cell is the current cell. If you selected a range and started entering a value, that value would be placed in the unshaded cell. You can also move the selected cell within the range using the Enter key or the Tab key.
Selecting a range of cells is covered in another lesson.
Copyright 1996 by the Curators of the University of Missouri
