Macs All-in-One for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter VI.3. Crunching with Numbers

In This Chapter

• Getting to know the Numbers spreadsheet

• Creating a spreadsheet

• Using sheets

• Working with tables

• Working with charts

• Polishing a spreadsheet

• Sharing your spreadsheet efforts

Numbers is a spreadsheet program designed to help you manipulate and calculate numbers for a wide variety of tasks, such as balancing a budget, calculating a loan, and creating an invoice. The Numbers program also lets you create line, bar, and pie charts that graphically help you analyze and understand what your data means.

Understanding the Parts of a Numbers Spreadsheet

A Numbers spreadsheet consists of one or more sheets, which are completely blank like an empty sheet of lined paper made up of rows and columns. The intersection of a row and column is a cell, which is where you type and store numbers, text, and formulas, as shown in Figure 3-1.

Besides the mundane but fundamental cells that act as the backbone of any spreadsheet, you can also place the following eye-catching (and useful) items in your spreadsheets, as shown in Figure 3-2:

• Tables

• Charts

• Text boxes

• Pictures

A table consists of rows and columns that can contain words, numbers, calculated results, or a combination of all two or all three of these types of contents.

Figure VI.3.1. The parts of a Numbers spreadsheet.

Figure VI.3.2. The parts of a table.

A chart displays data stored in a table. Common types of charts ...