Building a Small Table

Single cells are fine, but spreadsheets shine when data is organized into a table: a block of cells where each column holds one kind of information and each row describes one item.

The top row of a table is the header row. It doesn't contain data, it contains labels that tell the reader what each column means. Below it come the data rows, one item per row:

     A         B
1    Fruit     Qty      <- header row (labels)
2    Apples    12       <- data row: one fruit
3    Bananas   8        <- data row: another fruit

See how everything lines up? All the fruit names live in column A, all the quantities in column B, and each row reads like a little sentence: "Apples, 12 of them." The value that belongs to Apples (in A2) sits right beside it in B2.

This shape, headers in row 1, one item per row, one kind of value per column, is how almost every real spreadsheet is organized, from shop inventories to grade books. Build it neatly now and every formula you write later gets easier.