Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [132]
Setting the print range
When you create a new spreadsheet from scratch, it has no print range set. Such a spreadsheet appears gray when in Page Break View. To set a print range for your spreadsheet, make sure Page Break View is turned on, then highlight the full area you wish to print by clicking on the cell in one corner and dragging the mouse pointer across the entire range. Alternatively, select Format → Print Ranges → Define. Any spreadsheet content that's outside the range you set this way will not be printed.
If there is a print range already defined and you need to adjust it, simply grab the corner of the blue outline (or just grab a side) with the mouse and stretch it to include all the desired cells of your new print range.
To grab, first move the mouse pointer over the blue outline of the print range; you'll see the mouse pointer turn into a bidirectional arrow. The arrow permits you to drag the print range blue outline to a different place simply by clicking and dragging the line to the desired location.
Functions
OOoCalc has a full array of function types, including financial, database, temporal (date and time), array, statistical, informational, logical, mathematical, and textual.
OOoCalc's functions, their syntax, and their required formats are well documented in the Help drop-down menu of the main menu. Select Help → Contents, and the Help window will open up. Then, in the Index tab at the "Search term" field, type functions, and press the Enter key. Here, you can double-click on the name of a function in the left pane to view the information about that function. Figure 8-23 illustrates the Help Index and information on the financial function called PV, which calculates the present value of a stream of regular payments or cash flows. PV is a spreadsheet function that's understandably popular with MBAs and bankers.
When entering a function into a cell, remember always to precede the entry with an equals sign (=). The example offered in Figure 8-24 indicates what the PV function formula looks like in the formula field when it is correctly typed into a cell and the necessary information for the function is properly cell-referenced: =PV(B1;B2;B3).
The function in Figure 8-24 is a common mortgage problem. If you are guaranteed terms by your bank on a 30-year loan at 5% interest per annum, and you know that you have exactly $1,500 per month to spend on your new house, the question to answer is, "What is the purchase price that corresponds with my maximum monthly payment of $1,500?"
The PV function is perfect for solving such a problem. MBAs will fondly recall that mortgage payments made by you to the bank are outgoing and, therefore, negative. Make your payment input negative, or the resulting present value will be negative. The number of periods is 30 years times 12 months (360 periods), and the periodic interest rate is 5% per year divided by 12 months (0.42% per month), as indicated in Figure 8-24.
You could just as readily use the PMT (Payment) function to determine what the monthly payment is on your 10-million-Euro dream home.
It is possible also to enter numbers as well as cell references into the body of a function. In the Formula Field, this would look like the following:
=PV(.0042;360;-1500)
Figure 8-23. The PV (present value) function — Using Help
However, using cell references leaves room for easily trying alternative inputs or for generating a sensitivity analysis using a range of choices for one variable.
Worksheets, or sheets
One OOoCalc spreadsheet file (sometimes called a Workbook) contains three sheets by default, but can hold up to 256 sheets in total.
Figure 8-25 shows the three sheets of a standard, default spreadsheet file. In the figure, note from the white coloration of the sheet tab that