Automatic generation of explanations for spreadsheet applications

Applications developed by end-users using spreadsheets cannot be effectively distributed to other users because of the need for adequate information on the functioning of the applications themselves. In fact, building an explanation facility to support an application is a time-consuming task. This paper illustrates the realization of a tool for the automatic generation of explanations in conventional spreadsheet applications. The system works in two stages: the first one corresponds to the construction of a knowledge base containing the information on the mathematical relations coded into a programmed spreadsheet; the second one consists of the generation of explanations (concerning the quantities used in the spreadsheet and their relationships) from the representation previously built