Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook: Adding Excel to Your Analysis Arsenal

by David Bourg

Overview

Given the improved analytical capabilities of Excel, scientists and engineers everywhere are using it—instead of FORTRAN—to solve problems. And why not? Excel is installed on millions of computers, features a rich set of built-in analyses tools, and includes an integrated Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language. No wonder it's today's computing tool of choice.

Chances are you already use Excel to perform some fairly routine calculations. Now the Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook shows you how to leverage Excel to perform more complex calculations, too, calculations that once fell in the domain of specialized tools. It does so by putting a smorgasbord of data analysis techniques right at your fingertips. The book shows how to perform these useful tasks and others:

• Use Excel and VBA in general
• Import data from a variety of sources
• Analyze data
• Perform calculations
• Visualize the results for interpretation and presentation
• Use Excel to solve specific science and engineering problems

Wherever possible, the Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook draws on real-world examples from a range of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics. This way, you'll be better prepared to solve the problems you face in your everyday scientific or engineering tasks.

High on practicality and low on theory, this quick, look-up reference provides instant solutions, or "recipes," to problems both basic and advanced. And like other books in O'Reilly's popular Cookbook format, each recipe also includes a discussion on how and why it works. As a result, you can take comfort in knowing that complete, practical answers are a mere page-flip away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596008796
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/24/2006
Series:	Cookbooks (O'Reilly)
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

As a naval architect and marine engineer, David M. Bourg performs computer simulations and develops analysis tools that measure such things as hovercraft performance and the effect of waves on the motion of ships and boats. He teaches at the college level in the areas of ship design, construction and analysis. On occasion, David also lectures at high schools on topics such as naval architecture and software development. In addition to David's practical engineering background, he's professionally involved in computer game development and consulting through his company, Crescent Vision Interactive.

Table of Contents

Preface; Who Should Read This Book; What's in This Book; Conventions in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari Enabled; We'd Like Your Feedback!; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Using Excel; 1.0 Introduction; 1.1 Navigating the Interface; 1.2 Entering Data; 1.3 Setting Cell Data Types; 1.4 Selecting More Than a Single Cell; 1.5 Entering Formulas; 1.6 Exploring the R1C1 Cell Reference Style; 1.7 Referring to More Than a Single Cell; 1.8 Understanding Operator Precedence; 1.9 Using Exponents in Formulas; 1.10 Exploring Functions; 1.11 Formatting Your Spreadsheets; 1.12 Defining Custom Format Styles; 1.13 Leveraging Copy, Cut, Paste, and Paste Special; 1.14 Using Cell Names (Like Programming Variables); 1.15 Validating Data; 1.16 Taking Advantage of Macros; 1.17 Adding Comments and Equation Notes; 1.18 Getting Help; Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted with Visual Basic for Applications; 2.0 Introduction; 2.1 Navigating the VBA Editor; 2.2 Writing Functions and Subroutines; 2.3 Working with Data Types; 2.4 Defining Variables; 2.5 Defining Constants; 2.6 Using Arrays; 2.7 Commenting Code; 2.8 Spanning Long Statements over Multiple Lines; 2.9 Using Conditional Statements; 2.10 Using Loops; 2.11 Debugging VBA Code; 2.12 Exploring VBA's Built-in Functions; 2.13 Exploring Excel Objects; 2.14 Creating Your Own Objects in VBA; 2.15 VBA Help; Chapter 3: Collecting and Cleaning Up Data; 3.0 Introduction; 3.1 Importing Data from Text Files; 3.2 Importing Data from Delimited Text Files; 3.3 Importing Data Using Drag-and-Drop; 3.4 Importing Data from Access Databases; 3.5 Importing Data from Web Pages; 3.6 Parsing Data; 3.7 Removing Weird Characters from Imported Text; 3.8 Converting Units; 3.9 Sorting Data; 3.10 Filtering Data; 3.11 Looking Up Values in Tables; 3.12 Retrieving Data from XML Files; Chapter 4: Charting; 4.0 Introduction; 4.1 Creating Simple Charts; 4.2 Exploring Chart Styles; 4.3 Formatting Charts; 4.4 Customizing Chart Axes; 4.5 Setting Log or Semilog Scales; 4.6 Using Multiple Axes; 4.7 Changing the Type of an Existing Chart; 4.8 Combining Chart Types; 4.9 Building 3D Surface Plots; 4.10 Preparing Contour Plots; 4.11 Annotating Charts; 4.12 Saving Custom Chart Types; 4.13 Copying Charts to Word; 4-14 Displaying Error Bars; Chapter 5: Statistical Analysis; 5.0 Introduction; 5.1 Computing Summary Statistics; 5.2 Plotting Frequency Distributions; 5.3 Calculating Confidence Intervals; 5.4 Correlating Data; 5.5 Ranking and Percentiles; 5.6 Performing Statistical Tests; 5.7 Conducting ANOVA; 5.8 Generating Random Numbers; 5.9 Sampling Data; Chapter 6: Time Series Analysis; 6.0 Introduction; 6.1 Plotting Time Series Data; 6.2 Adding Trendlines; 6.3 Computing Moving Averages; 6.4 Smoothing Data Using Weighted Averages; 6.5 Centering Data; 6.6 Detrending a Time Series; 6.7 Estimating Seasonal Indices; 6.8 Deseasonalization of a Time Series; 6.9 Forecasting; 6.10 Applying Discrete Fourier Transforms; Chapter 7: Mathematical Functions; 7.0 Introduction; 7.1 Using Summation Functions; 7.2 Delving into Division; 7.3 Mastering Multiplication; 7.4 Exploring Exponential and Logarithmic Functions; 7.5 Using Trigonometry Functions; 7.6 Seeing Signs; 7.7 Getting to the Root of Things; 7.8 Rounding and Truncating Numbers; 7.9 Converting Between Number Systems; 7.10 Manipulating Matrices; 7.11 Building Support for Vectors; 7.12 Using Spreadsheet Functions in VBA Code; 7.13 Dealing with Complex Numbers; Chapter 8: Curve Fitting and Regression; 8.0 Introduction; 8.1 Performing Linear Curve Fitting Using Excel Charts; 8.2 Constructing Your Own Linear Fit Using Spreadsheet Functions; 8.3 Using a Single Spreadsheet Function for Linear Curve Fitting; 8.4 Performing Multiple Linear Regression; 8.5 Generating Nonlinear Curve Fits Using Excel Charts; 8.6 Fitting Nonlinear Curves Using Solver; 8.7 Assessing Goodness of Fit; 8.8 Computing Confidence Intervals; Chapter 9: Solving Equations; 9.0 Introduction; 9.1 Finding Roots Graphically; 9.2 Solving Nonlinear Equations Iteratively; 9.3 Automating Tedious Problems with VBA; 9.4 Solving Linear Systems; 9.5 Tackling Nonlinear Systems of Equations; 9.6 Using Classical Methods for Solving Equations; Chapter 10: Numerical Integration and Differentiation; 10.0 Introduction; 10.1 Integrating a Definite Integral; 10.2 Implementing the Trapezoidal Rule in VBA; 10.3 Computing the Center of an Area Using Numerical Integration; 10.4 Calculating the Second Moment of an Area; 10.5 Dealing with Double Integrals; 10.6 Numerical Differentiation; Chapter 11: Solving Ordinary Differential Equations; 11.0 Introduction; 11.1 Solving First-Order Initial Value Problems; 11.2 Applying the Runge-Kutta Method to Second-Order Initial Value Problems; 11.3 Tackling Coupled Equations; 11.4 Shooting Boundary Value Problems; Chapter 12: Solving Partial Differential Equations; 12.0 Introduction; 12.1 Leveraging Excel to Directly Solve Finite Difference Equations; 12.2 Recruiting Solver to Iteratively Solve Finite Difference Equations; 12.3 Solving Initial Value Problems; 12.4 Using Excel to Help Solve Problems Formulated Using the Finite Element Method; Chapter 13: Performing Optimization Analyses in Excel; 13.0 Introduction; 13.1 Using Excel for Traditional Linear Programming; 13.2 Exploring Resource Allocation Optimization Problems; 13.3 Getting More Realistic Results with Integer Constraints; 13.4 Tackling Troublesome Problems; 13.5 Optimizing Engineering Design Problems; 13.6 Understanding Solver Reports; 13.7 Programming a Genetic Algorithm for Optimization; Chapter 14: Introduction to Financial Calculations; 14.0 Introduction; 14.1 Computing Present Value; 14.2 Calculating Future Value; 14.3 Figuring Out Required Rate of Return; 14.4 Doubling Your Money; 14.5 Determining Monthly Payments; 14.6 Considering Cash Flow Alternatives; 14.7 Achieving a Certain Future Value; 14.8 Assessing Net Present Worth; 14.9 Estimating Rate of Return; 14.10 Solving Inverse Problems; 14.11 Figuring a Break-Even Point; Colophon;