This overview of a specific spreadsheet, Microsoft's Multiplan for the Apple Macintosh microcomputer, emphasizes specific features that are important to the academic community, including the mathematical functions of algebra, trigonometry, and statistical analysis. Additional features are summarized, including data formats for both numerical and textual data, and instructions on how to use a simple spreadsheet are provided. The following examples of spreadsheets are described and illustrated with figures: (1) Grade Tally, for computing grades; (2) Production Decisions, a decision analysis tool which compares the costs of four different methods of making the same quantity of a product to determine the least costly method; (3) Nutritional Analysis, a database of foods and their nutritional value; (4) Chemical Equilibrium Calculations, three spreadsheets that use Multiplan to perform calculations on the properties of solutions of weak acids and bases, including buffer solutions; (5) Least Squares Analysis, or linear regression, a statistical tool to judge how observed pairs of data best fit a straight line; and (6) Production Possibility Curve, which students create as a homework assignment. (LMM)