MS Excel Basics

MS Excel sheets (prior to Excel 2007) had a limit of 65,536 rows (2^16). This was a well-known limitation in older Excel versions. Option A correctly shows this number, while the other options are slight variations that are incorrect.

MS Excel sheets (prior to Excel 2007) had exactly 256 columns (2^8), labeled A through IV. This was a fundamental limitation in older Excel versions that was increased to 16,384 columns in Excel 2007 and later.

By default, a new Excel workbook contains 3 sheets (Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3). This has been the standard default in Excel for many versions, though users can customize this default number in Excel options.

The traditional file extension for Excel files is .xls. This was used for Excel files from 1987 through Excel 2003. Starting with Excel 2007, .xlsx became the default for the new XML-based format, but .xls remains the classic extension.

The intersection of a row and a column in Excel is called a cell. Each cell can contain data, formulas, or functions and is identified by its column letter and row number (like A1, B2, C3). This is the fundamental unit of Excel spreadsheets.

In Excel, a range is a group of two or more adjacent or non-adjacent cells. You can reference a range using cell addresses separated by a colon (e.g., A1:C5) to perform operations on multiple cells simultaneously.

Formulas can be edited directly in the cell by double-clicking it or pressing F2, not only in the formula bar. The formula bar is one editing location, but not the exclusive one.

In Excel, cell addresses follow the format column letter followed by row number (e.g., A1, B5, C10). The column identifier comes first, followed by the row identifier.

The NOW() function in Excel returns the current date and time as a serial number, which can be formatted to display as a date/time value. It updates automatically whenever the worksheet is recalculated.

The TODAY() function returns the serial number of the current date, not a particular time. It returns only the date portion (without time), while NOW() returns both date and time.

The SUM function in Excel and other spreadsheet software adds all specified numerical arguments together. It can handle individual numbers (SUM(5, 10, 15)) or cell ranges (SUM(A1:A10)) and is one of the most commonly used functions.