Exploring Electronic Spreadsheet v. 2.0

Spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas. 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. The word “spread” came from its sense of a newspaper or magazine item that covers two facing pages, extending across the center fold and treating the two pages as a larger one. The compound word “spread-sheet” came to mean the format used to present bookkeeping 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 rows and columns intersect.