Editing Spreadsheet (section)

=== Paper spreadsheets ===

Humans have organized data into [[Table (information)|tables]], that is, grids of columns and rows, since ancient times.  The Babylonians used clay tablets to store data as far back as 1800 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plimpton 322 |url=https://personal.math.ubc.ca/~cass/courses/m446-03/pl322/pl322.html |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=personal.math.ubc.ca}}</ref>  Other examples can be found in book-keeping [[ledgers]] and astronomical records.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Valla |first1=Giorgio |author-link=Giorgio Valla |title=Georgii Vallae Placentini viri clariss. De expetendis, et fugiendis rebus opus. 1 |date=1501 |publisher=Manutius |location=Venice |page=[https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10148187?page=452,453 452] |url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10148187?page=452,453}}</ref>

Since at least 1906 the term "spread sheet" has been used in [[accounting]] to mean a grid of columns and rows in a ledger.<ref>{{cite book |title=Transactions of the American Hospital Association. Eighth Annual Conference. |date=1906 |page=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsannua08ameruoft/page/148 148] |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsannua08ameruoft/page/148 |quote=[...] the expenditures of these institutions are carefully audited by an accounting staff at the Department. A spread sheet showing every item of expenditure is prepared each month so that the superintendent is kept posted, not only on the amounts expended, but is able to see at a glance what the same items are costing in similar institutions in the Province.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=N.A.C.A. Bulletin 1933-01-15: Vol 14 Iss 10 |date=1933 |publisher=Institute of Management Accountants |page=[https://archive.org/details/sim_strategic-finance_1933-01-15_14_10/page/762 762] |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_strategic-finance_1933-01-15_14_10/page/762 |language=English |quote=We maintain, in our general ledger, a so-called Spread Sheet which is a long sheet with the name of each individual plant in a particular column.}}</ref> And prior to the rise of computerized spreadsheets, "spread" referred to a newspaper or magazine item (text or graphics) that covers two facing pages, extending across the [[centerfold]] and treating the two pages as one large page.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1968 |title=Towards a Common Goal School-public Library Cooperation: selected Articles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxA9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22newspaper+gave+us+a+full+centerfold+spread%22 |publisher=[[University of the State of New York]] |page=81}}</ref> The compound word 'spread-sheet' came to mean the format used to present book-keeping ledgers—with columns for categories of expenditures across the top, invoices listed down the left margin, and the amount of each payment in the cell where its row and column intersect—which were, traditionally, a "spread" across facing pages of a bound ledger (book for keeping accounting records) or on oversized sheets of paper (termed 'analysis paper') ruled into rows and columns in that format and approximately twice as wide as ordinary paper.<ref name="sshistory">{{Cite web |url=http://dssresources.com/history/sshistory.html |last=Power |first=D. J. |title=A Brief History of Spreadsheets |website=DSSResources.COM |edition=3.6 |date=30 August 2004 |access-date=25 June 2014}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2023}}