Traditionally, accountants use a grid of rows and columns printed on special green paper to produce financial projects and reports. An electronic spreadsheet is software that simulates this accountant's paper pad or worksheet. Using spreadsheet software, a worksheet appears on the computer screen as a grid of rows and columns. The software performs calculations based on the numbers and mathematical formulas that users enter into this grid. While the terms worksheet and spreadsheet are used interchangeably, they really refer to different things. The spreadsheet actually refers to the software itself, whereas a worksheet denotes the actual numbers and formulas that underlie a particular task.

The intersection of a row and a column on the worksheet grid is called a cell. Cells are identified by a name that consists of a column letter (A–Z, AA–ZZ, and so on) and a row number. For...