Re: what do scientists use spreadsheets for?

Hi Lois,

Thanks for submitting your question to the MadSci network. I have to say that your question is a little vague, which means that different people will interpret what you are asking differently and give you a different answer. So, keep that in mind when you read my answer, and if you were asking a different question, please feel free to resubmit it.

Scientists use spreadsheets for the same reasons as anyone else. That is, we use spreadsheets to store, view, transfer and manipulate data (pieces of information). A spreadsheet is useful in that it allows us to arrange the data in rows and columns, which makes it easy for us to see the data, and makes it easy for us to sort the data by different categories, and criteria. Most spreadsheet programs also allow you to apply functions and formulae (the plural of formula) to your data, so that you can carry out the same function on many pieces of data at once.

In your question, you said, "an accountant uses them for keeping records of money that goes in and out of the company they work for", and while this is true, this might not be the only thing that an accountant uses a spreadsheet for; I think that you can see that this description falls into the description that I gave you above. The 'records of money' that you mentioned are pieces of data that describe quantities of money, and when you say that they are 'keeping' these, it is the same as my saying that we use spreadsheets to store data.

So, when I receive data from the other scientists that I work with, I ask them to put it into a spreadsheet in a very specific format (with different types of data in specific columns and rows). If they follow this format, then I can understand what their data means when they send me their spreadsheet, and they can understand what my data means when I send it to them.

However, spreadsheets aren't the only way to store, view, transfer, and manipulate data. They're just a very convenient way for human beings to do those things. Most of us scientists use computer programs to analyze our data, and these programs usually take the data that is stored in a spreadsheet and convert it into other formats in order to manipulate and analyze it.

I hope this helps you understand how scientists use spreadsheets. We really use them for the same things that everyone else does.

Keep asking questions!