Spreadsheets may consist of a number of different (but related) sheets

If data is changed then automatic re-calculation of formulae occurs.

Microsoft Excel is an example of a spreadsheet package.

• add and edit data in cells
• import data from files or other applications
• format the data in cells (fonts, colours...etc)
• format the type of data (dates, currency, decimal places...etc)
• enter mathematical formulae or pre-defined functions (eg average, sum, maximum, count) into cells
• use conditional statements - the content of a cell depends on a condition. (Eg. =IF(B3>10,"Free",£2.00)
• lookup tables can be used to look up data in a table of data values. Eg. An item can be entered in one cell, and the price can be looked up from a table and entered in another cell automatically.
• pivot tables can be used to automatically total, count or sort data from a table. They can be used to easily analyse hundreds of rows of complex data very quickly.
• data or formulae can be filled from one cell into a number of neighbouring cells.
• when copying (filling) a formula into a number of other cells, relative cell references change, but absolute cell references stay fixed.
• sort data
• produce graphs from the data
• use a macro - a pre-defined sequence of  instructions