What is a spreadsheet?

[MUSIC] 0:00 Hi I'm Mike Watson, I'm the CFO here at Treehouse and I'm super excited to be 0:05 teaching you about spreadsheets today because I use them all the time. 0:09 A spreadsheet is an electronic document that arranges data 0:14 in a table by using columns and rows. 0:17 Among other things, spreadsheets let you store, manipulate, share and analyze data. 0:20 Spreadsheets are used for both business and 0:26 personal use all over the world, everyday. 0:28 This is because the spreadsheet is a fairly simple, 0:31 accessible way to store, analyze, collaborate and present information. 0:34 People use spreadsheets to help analyze data to make well informed decisions, for 0:39 things as complicated as where to open new restaurant locations or build wind farms. 0:44 Sometimes simpler tasks like what type of television to buy. 0:49 If you've been tracking your household expenses from month to month 0:52 in a spreadsheet. 0:55 You'll be able to see what purchases fit within your monthly budget. 0:56 That's a simple example, but 1:00 utilizing spreadsheets can help you bring clarity, and insights, 1:02 to decisions much more quickly than if spreadsheets weren't around. 1:05 Knowing how to use spreadsheets will make you a more valuable and 1:09 productive team member. 1:12 That's not just in business either. 1:14 You can actually use spreadsheets to analyze gaming strategies for 1:16 academic research, or administration. 1:19 Unlike some other very valuable skills, with a little bit of practice and 1:22 learning, working with spreadsheets is actually pretty easy. 1:25 Let's open up a spreadsheet right now and learn the basic format. 1:29 There's a link to an example spreadsheet that includes data on Amazon's 1:33 2016 stock price in the teacher's notes. 1:36 If you're unfamiliar with how to use Google Sheets, 1:39 we've also included a link to a video with instructions on how to get started. 1:41 Right now we're looking at a spreadsheet. 1:46 You can see data organized in a table format. 1:48 A collection of columns going from left to right of the screen and 1:50 rows going from top to bottom. 1:55 At the top there are column titles, also known as data header rows. 1:58