A computer spreadsheet is an automated ledger book. The spreadsheet—a large piece of paper with columns and rows that shows details about transactions--predates computers by hundreds of years. Computerized technology has provided the electronic replacement of the accountant's columnar pad, pencil, and calculator. Spreadsheet programs use columns and rows to display both numbers and text, and allow calculations to be performed on the numerical data. In addition to number-crunching, spreadsheet programs allow editing of data, graphical representation of data and financial modeling.

The development of the electronic spreadsheet began in 1961 with Richard Mattessich. Practically, the electronic spreadsheet originated with VisiCalc, the first such program, which was developed in 1978 by Daniel Bricklin, and refined with the assistance of Robert Frankston. Frankston's accomplishment was to package the program such that it occupied relatively little machine memory. This allowed VisiCalc to run on a personal computer, which...