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Mark D. Larsen Utah State University As the use of computers has accelerated and increased, it has become evident that the three most wide-spread applications are word processing, databases, and spreadsheets. Among our own colleagues, however, word processing is by far the most popular. Indeed, relatively few Hispanists have ever used either a database or a spreadsheet, and in many cases are unaware of their purpose. This essay is addressed to those novices who would like to learn more about perhaps the most unfamiliar of these applications, the spreadsheet. As the name implies, a spreadsheet program is designed to resemble a «sheet» of paper, across which are «spread» items of information -such as names, titles, numbers, dates, etc.- in horizontal rows and vertical columns. Anyone who has worked with a budget ledger or a price list will readily recognize the format. The difference, of course, is that the rows and columns are displayed on a computer screen rather than a piece of paper. As an example, I will show a printout of a spreadsheet that might be used for the budget of a language laboratory. The particular program I am using is Wingz for the Macintosh, but please bear in mind that practically all spreadsheet software is similar in both appearance and function197. As you can see by Figure 1, various items of information have been entered into a grid of «cells», i. e., the boxes where the columns and rows intersect. Along the top and the left-hand side of the spreadsheet are letters and numbers which facilitate the identification of each cell. For instance, the total balance listed on this spreadsheet is located in column E and row 18, and thus its cell is labeled E 18.
At this point you might think that all these columns, rows, and cells merely complicate a task which could be more easily accomplished using indents and tabs with your word processor. Such a hasty conclusion would misjudge a spreadsheet on the basis of its appearance. Behind the seemingly simple display lie powerful functions which can designate specific cells to recalculate their numbers according to whatever changes you make in the other cells -something that no word processor can accomplish. To better illustrate this capability, I will make a few changes to the example on the preceding page. Let us imagine that the latest enrollment projections indicate that the number of students should be increased to 70 (cell B4). I have also found that I can buy the same cassettes from a different distributor for only $1.10 (cell C12). Finally, two of the graduate students have decided to interrupt their studies, so I must reduce the number of lab. assistants to five (cell B15):
You will note in Figure 2 that the total projected balance (cell E18) has been automatically updated to reflect the changes. This is the enormous benefit of using a spreadsheet: once you have designed the basic layout for your figures, you never
again have to get out
You can easily interpret this formula: the display of cell E18 should equal the amount in cell E5 minus that in cell E16. As you might expect, formulas which add, subtract, multiply, and divide are the ones most frequently used, but most spreadsheets also include a wide variety of other functions which can accomplish practically everything from finding averages and square roots to picking out the highest or lowest number from any row or column. To facilitate such tasks, the software is often capable of interacting with the user to «build» a formula from a list of components stored in memory -a welcome feature for those of us whose mathematical skills have become rusty with age. It is easy to see why spreadsheets are so popular among colleagues in disciplines like economics or engineering, where numbers constitute the raw material of their profession. Since we work primarily with languages, their relevance to our field at first glance seems more limited. Nonetheless, there are many instances when a spreadsheet proves useful. One of the first applications to come to mind would be that of an electronic gradebook. By using a spreadsheet, every time you gave a new test or assignment, you would merely need to enter the scores into their appropriate cells and the students' grades would be automatically updated. This would be extremely useful when individuals inquire «how they are doing» in your course. In fact, many programs allow you to selectively print only those cells you choose, which would enable you to generate periodic «report cards», and thus provide the students frequent feedback and its consequent motivation. Final grades, of course, would be automatically calculated for you by simply entering the scores for the last test. Because a spreadsheet and its formulas can be arranged in any way, you are the one who determines exactly how your gradebook should be organized. The following display, Figure 4, exemplifies how I might record and calculate grades for a class with six major tests:
In my own courses the top score constitutes 100% of the points possible, so the formula for the first student's percentage is:
In other words, the percentage for Dolores Fuertes de Barriga (cell 12) is her total score (cell H2) divided by the top score achieved in the class (the 'maximum number from cells H2 through H15), which happens to be that of Pablo Huesudo (cell H8). The same basic formula is repeated for all the other students.
Having seen the usefulness of the aforementioned features, most Hispanists would readily concede that it would be well worth their time and money to invest in spreadsheet software; besides calculating grades, they could also expedite such chores as balancing departmental budgets, projecting the costs of a study abroad program, or reporting travel costs to the last AATSP Convention. With many programs it is even possible to acquire «templates» that replicate federal and state tax forms, so that you can simply enter the appropriate information and the software will calculate your taxes for you! The most recent spreadsheet packages boast even more powerful capabilities that are also worthy of mention. One of the most innovative of these is the ability to translate the information on the spreadsheet into visual illustrations, such as charts and graphs. For instance, if I select all the cells for John Comelately's tests in Figure 5, I can instruct the program to draw a chart of his improvement throughout the semester, a factor that many instructors take into consideration when determining a student's grade:
There are many other ways that a spreadsheet can display such information, depending upon the sophistication of the individual program. Obviously, the more powerful (and expensive) packages offer more flexible and varied ways of generating such charts. Perhaps you would find it useful to include in your course syllabus a «pie» chart as in Figure 7 to illustrate which factors weigh more heavily when determining final grades.
I have also found these graphic functions particularly useful for my courses on Latin American Culture and Civilization, where I might want to display the population growth of Mexico, in Figure 8:
or illustrate what percentage of Colombia's economy was dedicated to industrial products in 1986, as in Figure 9:
or perhaps contrast the numbers of elementary, secondary, and university students in Argentina from 1957 to 1972 as in Figure 10:
Literary critics could use similar charts to enhance their analysis of poetry or fiction.
As an example, it is possible to illustrate the surprisingly parallel occurrences of the phonemes «l» and «r» in the 48 lines of Rubén Darío's poem, Sonatina, Figure 11:
Or perhaps it would be informative to compare the frequency of all phonemes from an introductory section of Sor Juana's Primero Sueño with the averages for the entire poem, Figure 12:
One could also demonstrate the stylistic differences used between different authors, works, or sections of a single work. For instance, I will chart the frequency of the conjunction que in every 10 lines of text to show how a 380-line segment from the Acto preparatorio in Agustín Yáñez's Al filo del agua uses fewer complex sentences than a comparable selection from the balance of the novel, Figure 13:
Still other applications come to mind. A linguist could use a spreadsheet to compare the frequencies of a particular pattern of speech among different countries, economic classes, educational levels, age groups, sexes, etc. Departments could better plan their curriculum by evaluating the trends of enrollment during a given number of years. As one of the editors of this section, I might find it informative to plot the increase in the number of computers installed in our high schools during the first part of this decade, Figure 14:
At this point you are undoubtedly imagining different and unique ways of putting a spreadsheet to good use for your own purposes. The possibilities are practically endless. In fact, we would welcome those of you who use spreadsheets to share your ideas with us in this section; there are many colleagues out there who could learn and benefit from your expertise. All you need to do is send us a note; we will collect them and relay the results. Understanding more clearly what a spreadsheet is, and how it may enhance your work, it would be prudent for you to consider several factors before investing in a specific program. Can the software use foreign characters? Because we deal with foreign languages, it is highly probable that you will want to include items of information in your spreadsheet which require accents, tildes, cedillas, dieresis, etc. Unfortunately, while many word processors are now capable of handling diacritics, most spreadsheet software is limited to standard ASCII codes. If you anticipate that you will definitely need foreign characters in your spreadsheets, be sure to thoroughly «test drive» this function before purchasing the program.
How easily can formulas be created What kinds of options are available for display? It is very conceivable that you might want to highlight your titles with boldface, italic, or underlined text. Or perhaps you would like to use a larger font for the totals than you do for the sub-totals. Or maybe you need to have a very wide column surrounded by several small ones. Or you might prefer to have deficits displayed in red. Such options will vary from program to program; the most expensive packages usually offer the most versatility. How important are charts and graphs to your work? The very basic programs work strictly with columns and rows of information, but the ability to generate graphs and charts is becoming more and more desirable. You need to ask yourself if such features would be worth the additional cost. If so, then you should consider how elaborate those illustrations would have to be. Several programs can generate simple, straightforward bar; line, and pie charts; others can add such frills as color, separate drawing tools, and three-dimensional effects. Can you exchange data with other applications and computers? This would be an important feature if you anticipate incorporating a spreadsheet into one of your word processing documents. Or you might have a list of figures in a database which you would like to alter using the automatic calculations of your spreadsheet. In either case, you will need a spreadsheet that can read and write files in a format which other programs and computers can interpret. The most common is known as TEXT, which saves cell entries as ASCII codes. An even better standard has emerged for spreadsheets known as SYLK, which manages to retain many of the formulas intact when translating from one program to another. This would be particularly useful, for example, if you have created a spreadsheet using Lotus 1-2-3 on your IBM PC, and wish to share it with your department secretary who uses Excel on a Macintosh. What should a spreadsheet cost? As with all software, this will vary according to the features desired. A no-frills program could cost less than $100, but a top-of-the-line, fully functional spreadsheet can run close to $500. Fortunately, it is possible to acquire even the best programs at substantial discounts to educational institutions. For instance, I purchased my copy of Wingz, which retails for $399, for the very reasonable price of $89. There are also student versions of programs like SuperCalc that are both powerful and inexpensive. No matter which spreadsheet program you eventually choose, you will find it to be a useful tool which combines the functions of your calculator and drawing board into one powerful application. Like word processing, it will take time and practice to tap the power of a spreadsheet, but the results are well worth the effort. You will end up saving more time in your work than you ever invested in learning the program, and will soon wonder how you managed to get along without it.
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