- Microsoft Excel is a program in the Microsoft Office productivity software suite. It was developed by Microsoft and can run on both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Excel allows users to track, calculate and graph data in a series of tables and spreadsheets. Since its initial release in 1993, it has become one of the most widely used spreadsheet application in the world.
- Excel allows users to keep track of data results in a spreadsheet. To use a checkbook as an example, a user could set up one column of the spreadsheet to keep track of descriptions of purchases and the other to keep track of prices. The prices column can then be set up to add all of the different data entries together, providing the user with a quickly added and constantly updating tally of how much money they are spending. This data can then be viewed as a table or graph for further analysis.
- As with all widely used pieces of software, Microsoft Excel has been the subject of criticism. Due to the way it tracks and stores data, users have expressed concern about the accuracy of its calculations. Excel also considers the year 1900 to have been a leap year, which is incorrect. This can make it difficult when you are tracking data obtained over extremely long periods of time. Excel also has a problem tracking data results that are incredibly large. Instead of providing a number, it will often simply provide an error icon.
