Re: [office-formula] 3-d references

[Eike Rathke <erack@sun.com>]

Hi Andreas,

On Wednesday, 2008-11-26 10:37:38 -0700, Andreas J. Guelzow wrote:

> > Same with Calc. I think we don't mention it explicitly at other places,
> > but   6.3.10 Infix Operator Reference Range (":")   says
> > 
> > | Takes two references and computes the range, that is, a reference to the
> > | smallest 3-dimensional cube of cells that include both Left and Right.
> > 
> > A cube to my understanding does include all atoms in between corners,
> > sides and edges ;-)
> > 
> 
> While this may be what "cube" means it seems to me that the shape of the
> space matters:
> 
> In this context most users will likely think of the sheets as layers and
> so "cube" appears to mean (to me at least):
> 
> for 'Sheet1'.B4:'Sheet3'.C5 with Sheet2 located between Sheet1 and
> Sheet3:
> 
> the union of the ranges B4:C5 on all sheets, ie. a total of 
> 3 times 2 times 2 = 12 cells,
> (3 sheets, 2 rows, 2 columns)

Well, yes, exactly.

> I think interpreting this to be ranges B4:C5 on Sheets 1 and 3 but all
> of sheet 2 does _not_ fit into the normal understanding of "cube".

Why all of sheet 2? 'Sheet1'.B4:'Sheet3'.C5 says cube from top left
front 'Sheet1'.B4 to bottom right back 'Sheet3'.C5, which in this case
encompasses 'Sheet2'.B4:C5, but nothing else of sheet 2. Do we have some
misunderstanding here?

  Eike

-- 
Automatic string conversions considered dangerous. They are the GOTO statements
of spreadsheets.  --Robert Weir on the OpenDocument formula subcommittee's list.

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