Modelling: what if?
A A piece of software used to manipulate data, often used in modelling. can be used as a modelling tool.
The model is controlled by a set of rules introduced by A simple piece of arithmetic you type into a spreadsheet to perform a calculation. The plural of 'formula' is 'formulae'.. These rules can be changed easily to vary the model and, for example, provide information about running costs and profit margins.
A company could use a spreadsheet to find out what would happen if they reduced the price of their product and the effect it would have on their income from sales.
To do this they lower the value in the price column and the data in the income from sales column will be automatically recalculated (downwards).
If the lower price resulted in higher sales, by adjusting the data in the number of sales column, the income from sales data will again be recalculated (upwards).
Being able to answer "what if?" questions like this is vital and allows a company to predict future trends in its income and outgoings.