25 Oct
2011
25 Oct
'11
1:34 a.m.
Am 23.10.2011 21:12, schrieb Tony Duell:
[Complex numbers in Excel]
This is actually the domain of more general computer algebra systems, like
Mathematica or Maple.
The point is not the 'i' (mathematical) vs. 'j' (EE) naming convention,
but the fact that
complex numbers are just a subset of similar mathematical concepts
(google for
quaternions or Cayley numbers) which seem to be important with Quantum
Theory.
The mathematics behind easily exceeds what ordinary spreadsheets can handle,
and makes such an "engineer's spreadsheet" a rather limited concept.
Regards
--
Holger
I'm not really sure since I found this by
Googling, but it seems as if
you have to enter complex numbers by entering a function. You can't just
type "5+j8" into a cell, you have to go via a dialog box. The number
will be displayed as "5+8j" (you can use anything you like instead of
"j", it is an argument to the function and presumably[hopefully] does
not take part in any calculations. What happens if you use "j" for one
number and "i" for another, and then add them, is open to speculation.
Could be interesting...)
Any arithmetic operators have to be expressed via functions.
This doesn't
sound much more pleasant than using separate cells for real
and imaginary parts and writing the appropriate functions to handle them,
something that you can do in just about any spreadsheet.
There probably is a need for an 'engineer's spreadsheet' with proper
complex number support, but I guess the market is much less than for
'business' applicatiosn which only need real numbers.