BCS Glossary of Computing and ICT 13th edition

A8 SPREADSHEETS

Before personal computers were readily available, accountancy and bookkeeping were often made easier by the use of large sheets of paper ruled into a grid of rows and columns – spreadsheets. Columns could be totalled, and a number in one box used in a calculation to give a value in another. This activity was a natural one for a computer application, and this type of software has developed in power ever since.

Figure A8.1 A typical spreadsheet

Figure A8.1 shows a typical computer spreadsheet package in use. The screen is dominated by the cells making up the sheet, which are referred to by their row and column – the selected cell, ...