Moving to the Linux® Business Desktop

Chapter 28. Spreadsheets:Tables You Can Count On

A spreadsheet, for those who might be curious, allows you to organize data onto a table comprised of rows and columns. The intersection of a row and a column is called a cell, and each cell can be given specific attributes, such as a value or a formula. In the case of a formula, changes in the data of other cells can automatically update the results. This makes a spreadsheet ideal for financial applications. Change the interest rate in the appropriate cell, and the monthly payment changes without you having to do anything else.

The idea of a computerized spreadsheet probably existed before 1978, but it was in that year that Daniel Bricklin, a Harvard Business School student, came up with the first ...