Week 5: Clear: Columns VS. Rows

Since the first time I ever learned about Excel spreadsheets, a topic that has been very clear and understandable to me is the difference between columns and rows and the functions of each. This is something that confuses a lot of people so I think its a good subject to clarify for people.

When someone first opens an Excel spreadsheet, they see a grid of rows and columns. On the left side of the spreadsheet, in the gray boxes, you will see numbers starting with 1 and going up. These numbers represent the ROWS. Each row goes across the screen. Columns, on the other hand are at the top of the grid. The columns are labeled with letters A-Z and they represent the different columns going down.

Basically, Rows go ACROSS and are labeled with numbers and Columns go DOWN and are labeled with letters. The intersection of a row and a column is called a  CELL. A cell is named starting with the Column letter and followed by the row number. Therefore, the top left column of a spreadsheet would be labeled as Cell A1. The cell under this would be A2 and the cell to the right of it would be B1. Hopefully this clarifies the difference between Cells and Rows for everyone.

Until Next time,

Zack