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I get a lot of questions about how to use Excel and whether<br>
you should use it. I know if you don't know how to use Excel<br>
it may take a little bit of time to figure things out. You can<br>
go to Microsoft's Support page for free tutorials,<br>
<br>
<a href="https://support.office.com/" target="_blank">https://support.office.com/</a><br>
<br>
I have several links explaining how to do certain things in<br>
Excel. I'm using a much older (but wiser) version of Excel<br>
(2003). My explanations generally pertain to that version.<br>
I do have a link that explains some differences between<br>
this older version and the newer versions (mainly 2007,<br>
the more recent versions are similar to 2007).<br>
<br>
You can find these links by going to the following links<br>
first,<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.htm"
target="_blank"><b>Using MS Excel for Reports</b></a><br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/chem1250/faq/faq_1250.htm"
target="_blank"><b>Helpful Tidbits for 1250</b></a><br>
<br>
The same links can be found in both places. The specific<br>
links are,<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/chem125/faq/excel.txt"
target="_blank"><b>Using Excel for Calculations and Graphs</b></a><br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/chem125/faq/Excel2007.txt"
target="_blank"><b>Using Excel 2007 (Some differences to Excel
2003)</b></a><br>
<br>
I highly encourage the use of Excel, both for calculations and<br>
doing graphs.<br>
<br>
Even if it takes you a bit of time to learn what you need to know it<br>
will save you a lot of time in the end. This is true for most exp
and<br>
very true for Exp 17. If you don't use Excel (or some other
graphing<br>
program) for exp 17 it will take a lot of time to complete the<br>
calculations and graphs. Don't even get me started on what<br>
kind of grief you will experience for Exp 17 if you are doing things<br>
by hand and make a calculation error and don't catch it before<br>
making the graphs. You can use Excel for exp 1 to do the calc.<br>
and graphs. Look at the example for exp 14 (vapor pressure<br>
exp) which you will do later in the semester. It shows how to
program<br>
in eqns and get more than one data set on a graph.<br>
<br>
One question students always ask when using Excel is how to<br>
set the significant figures in the tables and graphs. I've
explained<br>
this in the "Using Excel for Calculations and Graphs" document.<br>
You can't actually set the sig. fig. but you can set the number of<br>
decimal places Excel displays in order to get the correct number<br>
of sig. fig. If you do this in your tables before plotting, the
labels<br>
on your axes will contain the same number of decimal places<br>
(sig. fig.) as in the tables.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>What if you don't have Excel?</b><br>
<br>
You can find the following link by going to the "Using MS Excel"<br>
link above or the "Helpful Tidbits" link. It explains options.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/no_excel.htm"
target="_blank"><b>What if I don't have Excel?</b></a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Do you have to use Excel?</b><b><br>
<br>
</b><br>
You do not have to use Excel. However, I would suggest learning <br>
how to use it. It will come in handy later in the semester. There
<br>
are a few labs which will require a lot of calculations and graphs.
<br>
They will go much quicker if you use Excel. Besides, it's a very <br>
useful skill to have. <br>
<br>
<b>Do I still have to show sample calculations if I use Excel to do
them?</b><b><br>
</b><br>
As stated above, I encourage the use of Excel (or a similar program)
to<br>
do your calculations. That's really the best thing to do in terms
of saving<br>
time.<b> You will still have</b> <b>to show sample calculations in
the report.</b><br>
Just printing the equations as they appear in Excel is not
sufficient.<br>
<br>
If you make the Excel sheet look like the report sheet (with titles,<br>
headings, etc.) you can print the Excel sheet and turn that in as
the data<br>
page. You do not have to copy all the data over to the data sheet.<br>
However, you still need to turn in the data page from the manual
(even<br>
if blank). You also have to make sure you have units (best to put
them<br>
in the headings) and have the correct number of sig. fig. You
can't set <br>
sig. fig. in Excel but can set the decimal places to get the correct
sig. fig. <br>
<br>
<b>What do I do about margins and page orientation in Word and Excel
not</b><b><br>
</b><b>matching up?<br>
</b><b> </b><br>
Tough question because it depends on what version you're using. I
do have<br>
a link with some instructions using a more recent versions of Word
and Excel<br>
at the <a
href="http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.htm"
target="_blank"> <b>Using MS Excel for Reports</b></a> link.<br>
<br>
I hope these things help.<br>
<br>
Dr. Zellmer
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