What is the meaning of the term 'automatic re-calculation' as it relates to spreadsheet theory?
The whole basis of a spreadsheet's usefulness is its ability to
recalculate all its formulas every time a change is made to any
cell on the spreadsheet. This keeps the spreadsheet up to date when
new values are put in. On a paper-based spreadsheet, one figure
being changed requires that the user manually recalculates
everything in their spreadsheet. An electronic spreadsheet will do
it automatically, which is what is meant by automatic
recalculation.
There is an option to turn this off and have the spreadsheet
only recalculate when the user hits a specified key, usually the F9
key. This enables the user to change a figure and then look at the
existing figures before they are changed, to more easily note what
changes occur when they recalculate. On an electronic spreadsheet
manual calculation does not mean that the user has to do all the
calculations themselves, as they would on paper, but just that they
can tell the spreadsheet when to recalculate all formulas, rather
than it being done every time they make a change to anything.