{"id":645,"date":"2019-09-17T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/?p=645"},"modified":"2019-09-16T16:14:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T20:14:39","slug":"spreadsheet-roundup-20190917","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/17\/spreadsheet-roundup-20190917\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreadsheet Roundup 20190917"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"d942c2121bfbd137a3b44056a000f09c\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Responsive Top -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9531091850463532\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"6574318169\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s only a month until we celebrate Spreadsheet Day 2019, on October 17th!\u00a0 This year will be extra special \u2013 it&#8217;s the 40th anniversary of the VisiCalc launch. Were you using VisiCalc when it first came out, in 1979?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>While we wait for Spreadsheet Day, here is a roundup of selected spreadsheet articles that I\u2019ve read recently. You\u2019ll find interesting tips, useful sample files, and new ideas for your own spreadsheets.<\/p>\n<p>For Excel tips and tutorials, please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.contextures.com\/tiptech.html\">visit my Contextures website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Functions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>This paper is definitely not for most Excel users, but you might find it interesting. It&#8217;s from 2003, and the authors wanted Microsoft to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/excel.pdf\">add worksheet-based User Defined Functions<\/a> in Excel. See the screen shots on pages 4 and 7, for examples.<\/li>\n<li>This article has <a href=\"https:\/\/gijn.org\/2019\/05\/21\/eight-simple-ways-to-let-the-spreadsheet-do-the-math-so-you-can-focus-on-the-story\/\">spreadsheet tips for journalists<\/a>, but it&#8217;s an interesting read for people in other professions too. The formula for % difference is correct, but the explanation is confusing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Spreadsheet History<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Excel was launched on September 30, 1985. Earlier that year (May 2nd), Bill Gates unveiled Excel at a conference, and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.ca\/books?id=4y4EAAAAMBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=gbs_ge_summary_r&amp;cad=0#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\">see the details in InfoWorld (pages 28-33)<\/a>. Wow, 50% of Lotus users created macros! What&#8217;s your guess on the Excel %?<\/li>\n<li>Without <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1598826\/without-the-great-calculator-race-of-the-1970s-there-would-be-no-iphone\/\">the Great Calculator Race of the 1970s<\/a> we wouldn&#8217;t have iPhones. Or spreadsheets &#8211; Dan Bricklin competed with calculators when he <a href=\"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/25\/visicalc-demo-by-dan-bricklin\/\">built VisiCalc (video 3:10 mark)<\/a>. And have you tried Excel&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.contextures.com\/newsletter\/excelnews2016\/20160628ctx.html\">built-in calculator\/converter<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;ll see familiar items in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90297443\/this-guy-holds-the-guinness-world-record-for-collecting-spreadsheets\">Ariel Fischman&#8217;s spreadsheet collection<\/a>. He&#8217;s got VisiCalc, Multiplan, beta copies of Excel, and much more. He can&#8217;t find Excel 2001 for the Mac though, if you have a copy of that.<\/li>\n<li>Did you ever have to work with paper ledgers? The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-47802280\">BBC looks back at VisiCalc<\/a> &#8211; computing&#8217;s first &#8220;killer app&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Interesting Projects<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Do you like baseball? And statistics? A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.letsgotribe.com\/2019\/8\/23\/20829612\/i-gotta-feeling-that-tonights-gonna-be-a-spreadsheet-niiiiiiight\">Cleveland fan analyzed the team&#8217;s performance<\/a>, and you can download an Excel version of the file, to see how it works<\/li>\n<li>If you get tired of doing financial things in Excel, Kat Boogaard shows <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goskills.com\/Excel\/Articles\/Uses-of-Excel-in-business\">21 different uses for Excel<\/a>. Number 6 is <a href=\"https:\/\/contexturesblog.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/05\/plan-your-party-seating-with-excel\/\">my old seating plan workbook<\/a>, and there&#8217;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/contexturesblog.com\/archives\/2018\/03\/08\/excel-seating-plan-with-charts\/\">newer version now<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Larry Carpenter is a full-time engineer, and part-time brewmaster. Even if you&#8217;re not interested in beer, his <a href=\"https:\/\/beernbbqbylarry.com\/downloads\/\">brewing spreadsheet is worth a look<\/a>. It&#8217;s free, with no macros, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nk9VXV9a1CE\">video explains how it works<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Can a spreadsheet help you make decisions? This <a href=\"https:\/\/zapier.com\/blog\/decision-matrix-template\/\">Decision Matrix Template is a Google Sheet<\/a>, but you can download a copy in Excel format, if you prefer. The article explains how to use it, and there&#8217;s an example sheet in the workbook.<\/li>\n<li>How many things do you keep track of in a spreadsheet? Angela Lashbrook <a href=\"https:\/\/onezero.medium.com\/the-next-wellness-trend-should-be-google-spreadsheets-4675ae6a8496\">shares her Google Sheets that help her stay organized<\/a>, and you could set up similar files in other programs<\/li>\n<li>Spreadsheets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quora.com\/What-are-the-uses-of-a-spreadsheet-in-Excel\">have many uses<\/a>, but Keith McNulty says that <a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/spreadsheets-are-slowing-our-progress-caa1f7709302\">spreadsheets are slowing our progress in data analysis<\/a>. Are you using Power BI and other tools now?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>)___________________<\/p>\n<h3>Spreadsheet Roundup 20190917<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/spreadsheetroundup201909a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; background-image: none;\" title=\"Spreadsheet Roundup 20190917\" src=\"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/spreadsheetroundup201909a_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"Spreadsheet Roundup 20190917\" width=\"429\" height=\"429\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>___________________<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s only a month until we celebrate Spreadsheet Day 2019, on October 17th!\u00a0 This year will be extra special \u2013 it&#8217;s the 40th anniversary of the VisiCalc launch. Were you using VisiCalc when it&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spreadsheets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreadsheet-day.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}