Ron Graham
with Jon G. Amsberry, Jonathan Barnes, Dick Brewster, Jim Buch, LeAnne Davis, engdisease@aol.com, Glen Hadley, Wolfgang Hees, "Hephaestus," Richard Kowalczuk, Bob Kluck, Charles Madewell, Ed McBride, Doug Milliken, Bob Morrison, Rob Munach, Harley Myler, John Nichols, Timothy Parsons, stef pillaert, Andrei P. Popovici, Tony Prentakis, scgatorfan@hotmail.com, S. Joseph Spigolon, and "Steve" -- a cast of thousands!
Advantages to using Excel or another spreadsheet program:
- The problem must at least be set up properly to run; though as with any program the fact that it runs doesn't necessarily mean correct answers. As always, your understanding of a problem seems to depend on the time you spend on its setup.
- The ease of plotting results will actually tempt users to perform sensitivity analyses (or playing "what-if" games).
- You can easily and universally control the precision of your answers, with no effect on their accuracy.
One user gives the following analogy of Excel to driving a car:
| Hand calculations | are like | walking |
| Slide rule calculations | are like | running |
| Calculator | are like | bicycle |
| Calculations by Excel | are like | driving a car |
As with any program, it's possible to perform calculations without understanding what they mean. Learning to apply complex programs involves concurrently setting up common problems you may not understand, and learning to understand those problems.
Assignments
Can you create a scatter plot of random numbers in Excel? How long does it take you? (Cutting and pasting expressions could give you the numbers in less than a minute.) Can you move from the Excel default plot format to one of the following? How long does it take you? How do these plots compare for comprehensibility with the default plot format?
