A spreadsheet is used to calculate the value of the iron
ore that the Nostromo and her sister ships are carrying
to Earth.
In the above spreadsheet, the first column, A, is used to
identify the ship.
The second column, B, is used to record the tons of iron ore processed.
The fourth column, D, calculates, in tons, the amount of
iron metal that will be extracted from the ore.
Part of the work at the bottom of the spreadsheet was to
determine the percent iron in iron ore. It was shown to
be about 70%, thus 100 tons of iron ore would contain 70
tons of iron.
The last two columns, E, and F, are to calculate the range
of expected worth of the iron.
If something should happen, changing the wholesale price of
iron metal, it is easy to make a quick change to the
spreadsheet to see the effect on the total value of the
iron metal. For example, if a competitor's ship is lost (black hole?), the supply of iron available to the market is diminished, and the prices will go up. Economists may estimate that the price could go as high as $0.07 per lb., thus, the cell B15 would be changed from 0.05 to 0.07, and immediately we would see that the estimated high value for the Nostromo's cargo changes from roughly
1.25 billion to 1.75 billion, an increase of $500,000,000.00.
We would also see the effect on the value of the cargo on the
other ships.
Highlights
Spreadsheets are used to display information and perform calculations
Spreadsheets allow the operator to see how changing
one variable effects a whole series of data.
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