Abstract
Spreadsheets are difficult to use in applications, where only incomplete or inexact data (e.g., intervals) are available-a typical situation in various design and planning tasks. It can be argued that this is due to two fundamental shortcomings of the computational paradigm underlying spreadsheets. First, the distinction between input and output cells has to be fixed before computations. Second, cells may have only exact values. As a result, spread-sheets support the user only with primitive iterative problem solving schemes based on trial-and-error methods. A constraint-based computational paradigm for next generation interval spreadsheets is presented. The scheme makes it possible to exploit incomplete/inexact data (intervals), and it can support problem solving in a top-down fashion. Current spreadsheets constitute a special case of the more general interval constraint spreadsheets proposed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 27-34 |
Journal | Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing: AI EDAM |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1994 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |