20 Oct
2011
20 Oct
'11
9:03 a.m.
On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:42:03 +0100 (BST), ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony
Duell) wrote:
Did/does any spreadsheet, on any platform, allow you
to put complex
numbers in the cells and operate on them?
Yes, of course you can treat a complex numner as 2 real numbers and
define the appropriate operations -- any spreadsheet will do that. I did
it in Visicalc. But as I use complex numbers a lot in AC circuit
analysis, and I know others who do too, I am suprised no spreadsheet
handles them as well as my HP calculators.
Surprise surprise, apparently Excel will let you work with complex
numbers. It seems you have to install the "Analysis Pak" (which
apparently is supplied with Excel, see e.g.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/load-the-analysis-toolpak-HP00…
for the 2003 version).
That of course doesn't mean that it handles them as well as your HP
calculators :-)
/Jonas
20 Oct
20 Oct
4:09 p.m.
On Thu, 20 Oct 2011, Jonas Otter wrote:
Surprise surprise, apparently Excel will let you work
with complex
numbers. It seems you have to install the "Analysis Pak" (which
apparently is supplied with Excel, see e.g.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/load-the-analysis-toolpak-HP00…
for the 2003 version).
That of course doesn't mean that it handles them as well as your HP
calculators :-)
Every thread on this mailing list EVENTUALLY produces some truly useful
information!
(But, we can probably still find SOMETHING that isn't in Excel!)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
21 Oct
21 Oct
1:09 p.m.
Surprise surprise, apparently Excel will let you work
with complex
numbers. It seems you have to install the "Analysis Pak" (which
apparently is supplied with Excel, see e.g.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/load-the-analysis-toolpak-HP00…
for the 2003 version).
Interesting. This is not at all well-known (I know people who use Excel
and who need complex numbers who haven't found this...)
I must look into this and see just what it does. In particular, is a
complex number something that's sotred in oen cell or two (if the
latter, it's a kludge!)? Do the normal arithmetic operators work with
them or do you have special functions (written in prefix as opposed to
infix notation) to do this?
That of course doesn't mean that it handles them
as well as your HP
calculators :-)
Few things do :-)
-tony
24 Oct
24 Oct
2:29 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonas Otter" <jonas at otter.se>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:03 PM
Subject: Re: Spreadsheets (was Microsoft flamage)
On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:42:03 +0100 (BST), ard at
p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony
Duell) wrote:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/load-the-analysis-toolpak-HP00…
Did/does any spreadsheet, on any platform, allow
you to put complex
numbers in the cells and operate on them?
Yes, of course you can treat a complex numner as 2 real numbers and
define the appropriate operations -- any spreadsheet will do that. I did
it in Visicalc. But as I use complex numbers a lot in AC circuit
analysis, and I know others who do too, I am suprised no spreadsheet
handles them as well as my HP calculators.
Surprise surprise, apparently Excel will let you work with complex
numbers. It seems you have to install the "Analysis Pak" (which
apparently is supplied with Excel, see e.g.
for the 2003 version).
That of course doesn't mean that it handles them as well as your HP
calculators :-)
/Jonas
Yes, the analysis pak allows you to install extra features - you choose
which. I had to use it to be able to do ANOVA (analysis of variance) stuff
once. I don't see the point of having it seperate and having to install the
bits you want. Why not just have an extra drop down menu for advanced maths,
than hide them away from users?
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
4807
days inactive
4811
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
jonas＠otter.se