EGR 105 Foundations of Engineering I Session 3 Excel – Basics through Graphing Fall 2008

EGR105 – Session 3 Topics Excel basics Cell referencing Math functions Graphing Homework Assignment

Excel Basics Workbook organization –Cells (row/col) –Worksheets (names) Entering and formatting data Copy & paste Fill Simple math –+, –, *, /, ^ –Entry starts with = – “autosum” –Relative copy for math operations Data sort Split window

Referring to Cells Standard way: row column notation –Actually, letter number –For fixed, add $s (“absolute cell reference”) Cell names – can “rename” cells by changing content of box on upper left –Useful for formulas

More Complicated Math What if you had to compute or n = number of points

Built-in Functions in Excel Syntax: –Entry always starts with an equal sign (=) –Next is the name of the function followed by parentheses containing parameters or values to be operated on (arguments) –Examples: = SUM ( A10:C20 ) = SQRT ( B17 ) Many types available

Some work on single arguments, some on groups of arguments, some on none Composition of functions works: = SQRT ( SUM ( A10:B17 ) ) How to invoke: –Know the name of the function –Function wizard button: f x

Elementary Math = SQRT (x) = ABS (x) = FACT (x) = SUM (x1,x2,…) = GCD (x1,x2,…) = LCM (x1,x2,…) = CEILING (x1,x2,…) = ROUND (x) = SUM (x1,x2,…) = COUNT (x1,x2,…) = EXP (x) = LOG (x) = LOG10 (x) = POWER (x,y) = RAND ( ) …

Trigonometry = PI ( ) = DEGREES (x) = RADIANS (x) = SIN (x) = COS (x) = TAN (x) = ACOS (x) = SINH (x) = ATAN2 (x,y) …

Logical Functions If test: = IF ( logical test, value if true, value if false ) Example: = IF (A10 >= B20,A10,0) Others: AND, NOT, OR

Statistics = min (c1:d10) = max (c1:d10) = average (c1:d10) = median (c1:d10) = stdev (c1:d10) = var (c1:d10)

Interfacing to the World Importing/Exporting data –“open” –“save as”

Graphics Excel’s terminology: –“Chart” Engineers commonly use XY scatter, not line!! –“Category” is the independent variable, horizontal axis, abscissa –“Value” is the dependent variable, vertical axis, ordinate Excel’s plot wizard

Graphing Standards Symbolism: –Experimental data –Theoretical curves Labeling: –Axes names –Units Types of scales: –Linear –Range to show –Semilog & log Multiple curves on one set of axes –Legends

Homework Assignment See passed out sheet or course web site