What is the Difference Between Spreadsheet and Database

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The main difference between Spreadsheet and Database is that the Spreadsheet is a computer application that helps to arrange, manage and calculate data, while Database is a collection of related data that is organized in a way to access data easily.

Generally, data is important for small to large scale organizations. Senior managers and business analysts use data to make business decisions. Spreadsheet and database are two methods to store data. Overall, a database is capable of storing a large amount of data than a spreadsheet.
Spreadsheet is a computer application. It allows organizing, analyzing and storing data in a table form. Spreadsheet application is a standard feature of an office productive suite and is similar to paper based accounting worksheet. Therefore, most business organizations use spreadsheet instead of keeping paper based accounts. Moreover, a Spreadsheet worksheet consists of cells and each cell can store data. User can store numeric or textual data.

Difference Between Spreadsheet and Database

Spreadsheet provides multiple advantages. Firstly, there are arithmetic and mathematical functions to perform calculations. Secondly, there are built in functions to perform common financial and statistical operations. Thirdly, there are conditional expressions, functions to convert between text and numbers and functions to operate on strings of text. Furthermore, user can create charts for analytical tasks.

There are various spreadsheet applications. LANPAR was the first electronic spreadsheet on the mainframe and time sharing computers. Whereas, on a microcomputer, VisiCalc was the first electronic spreadsheet, and for DOS operating system, Lotus 1-2-3 was the common spreadsheet. Today, the commonly used spreadsheet for Windows and Macintosh platforms is Excel.