Numerical processing is usually done using tables.

The term “table” means:

a list of information, numerical data, recording them in a known order in columns;

Printed material grouped as several columns (columns) with independent headings and separated by rulers.

Tabular processing implies: storing text (table header, field name, etc.), numbers, references to the calculation formula by which calculations are performed in the corresponding table cells, performing calculations on a computer in tabular form. Programs that allow you to perform such actions are called spreadsheets.

A spreadsheet is an interactive system for processing information ordered in the form of a table with named rows and columns.

The structure of a table includes a numbering and subject header, a header (header), a sidebar (the first table column containing the row headers) and a prograph (the table data itself). Spreadsheets are used to solve problems of calculation, decision-making support, modeling and presentation of results in almost all areas of activity. In most cases, it is enough to work out the form of the table once and establish the nature of the necessary calculations (e.g., calculation of wages and benefits, statistical calculations, etc.). Then the workflow comes down to entering or correcting data and getting, as a result of automatic calculation, final values and solutions.

One of the first spreadsheets was Visual Calc, developed in 1979 in the USA. When solving economic planning tasks, accounting and banking, design estimates, etc., Microsoft Excel spreadsheet processor is most commonly used, although other processors are also used, such as Lotus 1-2-3.

The work of the spreadsheet processor is considered on the example of Excel software.

Excel is a powerful arsenal of input, processing, and output in user-friendly forms of factual information. These tools allow to process factual information using typical functional dependencies (financial, mathematical, statistical, logical, etc.), to build three-dimensional and flat diagrams, to process information according to user programs, to analyze errors that occur during information processing, to display or print the results of information processing in the most user-friendly form.