When would you use a spreadsheet as opposed to a Word document?

Answer 1

Word Document is for the:

Formatting and manipulation of text and Typing

Excel is used for:

Maniplulation of mass data
Graphical visualization
Formula
Financial tasks
Automatically updating data


Simple really....
One is for typing one is a giant calculator.

Answer 2

A spreadsheet is appropriate for number crunching, financial calcs and ad-hoc reports with calculations. IOW, To create spreadsheets, use a spreadsheet program.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreadsheet

For typing a letter or writing a report or a book, use a word processor.

For dealing with bunches of data, even if it happens to include calculations of the data, use a database. A spreadsheet can be used to tabulate say a music library for example, but a database is a much better application for such things.

For a free software package that includes all of these, get Open Office.
http://www.openoffice.org
More options and links to more info on openoffice:
http://www.t3technet.com/alternates.html

Answer 3

Word is primarily for word processing - letters, labels, manuscripts, etc. You can have a table in Word, but is doesn't have the function capabilities that exist in Excel - whose primary purpose is for spreadsheets. There is a toolbar for entering and editing formulas, you can create a chart very easily by selecting your work and clicking Insert, Chart.

Both are great programs and each has its own primary purpose.