A spreadsheet is a computer program that can capture, display, and manipulate data arranged in rows and columns. It is a scalable grid-based file that is used to organize data and perform calculations. Spreadsheets are one of the most popular tools available with personal computers. They are generally designed to hold numerical data and short text strings. In a spreadsheet program, spaces that hold items of data are called spreadsheet cells, which can be renamed to better reflect the data they hold and can be cross-referenced through row numbers and column letters. A single spreadsheet can be used as a worksheet to compile data for a purpose, or multiple sheets can be combined to create an entire workbook.

Spreadsheets are used extensively in any context where tabular lists are built, sorted, and shared. They are used for financial data, such as checking account information, taxes, transaction, billing, budgets, etc. Spreadsheets are also used to represent scientific data and to carry out computations. They are well suited to educational uses, for example, to display the synthesis of sound from simple audio waveforms. Furthermore, since they are two-dimensional grids of cells, they can be readily programmed as cellular automata, systems of cells whose state depends on the states of their neighbors.

Some common spreadsheet applications include Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apache Open Office, and LibreOffice. Microsoft Excel now has the largest market share on the Windows and Macintosh platforms. A spreadsheet program is a standard feature of an office productivity suite. Google Sheets is an online and free spreadsheet web application.

In summary, a spreadsheet is a simple tool that helps you create, organize, and analyze data. It is a computer program that operates on data entered in cells of a table, and each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells.