A type system for statically detecting spreadsheet errors

We describe a methodology for detecting user errors in spreadsheets, using the notion of units as our basic elements of checking. We define the concept of a header and discuss two types of relationships between headers, namely is-a and has-a relationships. With these, we develop a set of rules to assign units to cells in the spreadsheet. We check for errors by ensuring that every cell has a well-formed unit. We describe an implementation of the system that allows the user to check Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. We have run our system on practical examples, and even found errors in published spreadsheets.