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Spreadsheet Fundamentals

Every Excel course teaches you which formula to type. Almost none of them teach you what you are typing it at — and that is where analyst work actually goes wrong. A total that is quietly too small, a filter that returns one row instead of three, a report that was right last month. None of those are formula mistakes.

This course is the other half: what a cell and a range really are, why a column has a type even though nothing enforces it, what one row is supposed to mean, and how to keep raw data and the report you build from it apart. Short chapters, one idea each, every example running live on a real grid.

It is a companion to the Excel tutorial, not a prerequisite — read them in either order, or side by side. Both are free, and both stay free.

Sign in to track your progress across chapters.

What the grid is

3 chapters

Cells, references and types, and the one rule about rows every formula depends on.

  1. 01What a spreadsheet really is5 minA grid of values, not a document — and the difference between the part you type and the part you derive.
  2. 02A column has a type anyway6 minExcel will not refuse a bad value the way a database does, so the type problem moves into your formula.
  3. 03One row per record7 minThe single layout rule every formula depends on — and the three ways a sheet made for reading breaks it.

Making it computable

2 chapters

Header rows, ranges that keep up with the data, and what an empty cell actually means.

  1. 04Headers formulas can use6 minOne header row, names with no decoration, and a range that still covers your data next month.
  2. 05Blank is not zero7 minAn empty cell, a zero and an empty-looking formula result are three different claims about the world, and only one of them is nothing.

Keeping it honest

2 chapters

Raw data and summary side by side, and what sorting and filtering quietly do to both.

  1. 06Keep raw and summary apart7 minThe data you were given and the numbers you produced are two different objects, and the moment you type over one with the other you cannot get it back.
  2. 07Sort, filter, and what they don't change7 minSorting rearranges rows and filtering hides them, and the totals sitting beside your table have opinions about both.

Where to go next

These chapters are about the shape of the data. Once it is shaped right, the formulas are the easy half.