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The spreadsheet automatically does all the math for you.
Manual or paper-based and electronic.
Because it gives much more room for people to create much larger spreadsheets that would take too much paper. That is one of the major advantages of an electronic spreadsheet. You can manipulate much larger amounts of data on an electronic spreadsheet. This makes them far more useful. There is so much that can be done on a large electronic spreadsheet that would be very difficult to do on a paper-based one.
The data relational model is to do with databases. While you can do databases with a spreadsheet, it is limited compared to a standard database product and it is difficult to implement the relational model effectively. Relational databases use tables that are connected to each other. Spreadsheets lay out data in tabular form and it is possible to have relations between separate tables, but not in the way that it is done in a database. A database sets up a table in a more specialised format and only holds the data it needs. A spreadsheet would have a table in it, but it would not be the complete spreadsheet as you would have lots of unused cells in the spreadsheet. So you would not normally implement a relational database in a spreadsheet.
A spreadsheet can be a paper-based document. Excel is an electronic spreadsheet. A spreadsheet can refer to any electronic spreadsheet program. Excel is just one of the electronic spreadsheet programs that are available and it is the most popular one.
Because that is exactly what it is. It provides to facilities to create spreadsheets on your computer. It has all you need to do that. It is layed out like a paper-based spreadsheet and like other electronic spreadsheet programs.
They are based on the accountant's paper-based spreadsheet, which consists of rows and columns into which values can be put and calculations can be done. The electronic spreadsheet enables the calculations to be done automatically and provides a whole host of other features that a paper-based spreadsheet can never achieve.
They either used other spreadsheet applications, or calculators or paper. Excel was not the first electronic spreadsheet. Excel came out in 1985, but the first electronic spreadsheet was VisiCalc, which came out in 1979. There were others between VisiCalc and Excel, most notably Lotus 1-2-3.
The first major spreadsheet that Microsoft had was called Multiplan. It had a code name EP, standing for Electronic Paper. It preceded Windows and it preceded Excel.
Data can be added to or removed from an electronic spreadsheet whenever the user wishes to do so. A press on a keyboard button will update the spreadsheet. On a paper spreadsheet, this would not be possible. Any data that needed to be added or erased would usually mean gluing a blank label over the cell, and writing in the new data, or using a liquid paper correction fluid to mask the cell and writing over the top with a pen (messy). Using an electronic spreadsheet means you could sort, rearrange, produce reports, produce graphs, and so on - which would be very time consuming using a paper, database card system.
A paper graph sheet (or lined paper, etc) could be used as a spreadsheet. But writing and calculating the data would have to be done manually - a very time-consuming and laborious method, prone to mistakes. A computerised spreadsheet means that the data is written once, and can be used to make reports, etc, many times - very quick and less prone to mistakes. Also, any added data is automatically recalculated and the spreadsheet updated very quickly.
Electronic spreadsheets are more convenient, because they are easier to edit. They also are easier to change cells and change information then paper based spreadsheets.