Advanced Spreadsheets

To add a secondary axis to a chart, first of all select the chart. After this, right-click anywhere on the chart area, and from the resulting menu click on ‘Insert/Delete Axes’. This will open the ‘Axes’ dialog box. In this dialog box, we have two checkboxes under ‘Secondary Axes’. Check any one or both of…

Create a combined column and line chart. A combined column and line chart is a combination of two chart types. It is useful for combining two distinct but related data series. To create a combined column and line chart in Calc, first of all we need to select some data which we are going to…

Use a 3-D reference within a sum function. Till now we have seen how to use the cell ranges from the same sheet as the arguments for the functions. But we can also use cell ranges from other sheets as arguments for the function. This is known as 3-D referencing. To use 3-D referencing, use…

Create a two-level nested function. A two-level nested function means that we use another function as an argument for a function. We’ll take this with the help of an example. Say we are using a ‘SUM’ function. We can input numbers as the arguments manually or we can input cells or data ranges by using…

Use database functions: dsum, dmin, dmax, dcount, daverage. In the same ‘Function Wizard’, under the ‘Database’ category, we have some database functions. One of these functions is ‘DSUM’. This function adds all the cells of a data range where the contents match the search criteria. This function takes 3 arguments, ‘Database’, ‘Database field’, and ‘Search…

Use lookup functions: vlookup, hlookup. In the same ‘Function Wizard’, under the ‘Spreadsheet’ category, we have the ‘VLOOKUP’ and ‘HLOOKUP’ functions. ‘VLOOKUP’ is vertical lookup and ‘HLOOKUP’ is the horizontal lookup. ‘VLOOKUP’ does the vertical search and references to the indicated cells. ‘HLOOKUP’ does the horizontal search and reference to the cells located below. Both…

Use financial functions: fv, pv, pmt. In the same wizard, under the ‘Financial’ category, we have the ‘FV’ function. This function returns the future value of an investment based on regular payments and a constant rate of interest. This function takes up five values, ‘Rate’, ‘NPER’, ‘PMT’, ‘PV’ and ‘Type’. ‘Rate’ is the rate of…

Use text functions: left, right, mid, trim, concatenate. In the ‘Function Wizard’, under the ‘Text’ category, we have some functions which can be used to analyze text values. One such function is ‘LEFT’. This function returns a specified number of first characters from any word. This function takes two arguments, ‘text’ and ‘number’. The ‘text’…

Use statistical functions: countif, countblank, rank. In the same wizard, under the ‘Statistical’ category, we have the ‘COUNTIF’ function. This function counts the number of arguments which meet the set conditions. This function takes two arguments, ‘range’ and ‘criteria’. These give the range of cells to be evaluated and the criteria to be used for…

Use mathematical functions: rounddown, roundup, sumif. To use mathematical functions, in the same ‘Function Wizard’, select the ‘Mathematical’ category. From the ‘Function’ drop-down list, select ‘ROUNDDOWN’. This function rounds a number down to a predefined accuracy. This means that the number is rounded in such a way that the lower value is always displayed. After…