COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS OO CALC

Tutorials

OpenOffice calc online tutorial

• http://www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org/category_index/spreadsheet.html

Example spreadsheet, savetoretire.ods.

Naming a cell or range of cells: select cell(s), click Name box, type name, hit Enter key. Using a name: in a cell, type = followed by a name (instead of a number, formula, string, etc.). Deleting a name: Insert > Name > Define, select name, click Delete button.

To format a cell or cell range for currency, percentage, etc.: select cell or cell range, right-click and select Format Cells, click Number tab if necessary.

Relative cell address (no leading dollar signs $ on row or column) changes (adjusts) when copied. An absolute cell address (leading $ on row and/or column) does not change when copied.

Using functions: Insert > Function

Functions: FV, PV, PMT

Using the following symbols

• y for number of years,
• i for annual interest rate or investment return,
• a for amount (dollars) per year, and
• t for total dollars,

• Given specific values of i, y, and t, PMT(i, y, 0, t, 1) calculates how many dollars a we need to save per year (at the beginning of each year) for y years to accumulate t total dollars.
• Given specific values of i, y, and t, PMT(i, y, t, 0, 1) calculates how many dollars a we can pay ourselves in retirement per year (at the beginning of each year) for y years if we have saved t total dollars.
• Given specific values of i, y, and a, FV(i, y, a, 0, 1) calculates how many total dollars t we accumulate in a savings account after saving a dollars per year (at the beginning of each year) for y years.
• Given specific values of i, y, and a, PV(i, y, a, 0, 1) calculates the one-time lump-sum savings to put in a savings account at year one so that at the end of y years, the savings account has in it the same amount as if we had invested a dollars per year (at the beginning of each year) for y years. (The previous bullet tells us how to calculate what that total t actually is: FV(i, y, a, 0, 1).)
• Given specific values of i, y, and a, PV(i, y, a, 0, 1) also calculates the total dollars t needed to pay out a dollars per year (at the beginning of each year) for y years.

home page: http://elvis.rowan.edu/~hartley/index.html
e-mail: hartley@elvis.rowan.edu