Introduction To Spreadsheets
Introduction To Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper, accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells that
together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing alphanumeric text, numeric values or
formulas. A formula defines how the content of that cell is to be calculated from the contents of any other cell (or
combination of cells) each time any cell is updated. Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial information
because of their ability to re-calculate the entire sheet automatically after a change to a single cell is made.
Visicalc is usually considered the first electronic spreadsheet (although this has been challenged), and it helped turn
the Apple II computer into a success and greatly assisted in their widespread application. Lotus 1-2-3 was the leading
spreadsheet when DOS was the dominant operating system. Excel now has the largest market share on the Windows
and Macintosh platforms.
Paper spreadsheets
The word "spreadsheet" came from "spread" in its sense of a newspaper or magazine item (text and/or graphics) that
covers two facing pages, extending across the center fold and treating the two pages as one large one. The compound
word "spread-sheet" came to mean the format used to present book-keeping ledgers—with columns for categories of
expenditures across the top, invoices listed down the left margin, and the amount of each payment in the cell where its
row and column intersect—which were, traditionally, a "spread" across facing pages of a bound ledger (book for
keeping accounting records) or on oversized sheets of paper ruled into rows and columns in that format and
approximately twice as wide as ordinary paper.
Gnumeric
Web based spreadsheets
IBM Lotus Symphony (2007)
KSpread
ZCubes-Calci
Resolver One
A "cell" can be thought of as a box for holding a datum. A single cell is usually referenced by its column
and row.
A cell may contain a value or a formula. By convention, formulas usually begin with = sign.
Values
A value can be entered from the computer keyboard by directly typing into the cell itself. Alternatively, a
value can be based on a formula , which might perform a calculation, display the current date or time, or
retrieve external data such as a stock quote or a database value.