Math Software

With a little work, Excel will do it, or are you looking for something else?

Hi Reno Nevada : OK , how do you use excel to create curves , such as fuse and breaker trip curves, and different combinations of sine curves to illustrate harmonics in a particular circuit ? from Ottawa, where the morning walk to work is at 28F.

It does take some work, but it's possible.

If you know your function, plug it into a series of cells to create your data set for whatever range you require. You may need to play with your intervals a bit to get things looking like you want. Then simply use your data set to plot your chart. You can use the fit curve function to smooth things out. You can lay as many data sets on a single chart as you can read.

Follow?

Don't feel too bad, morning temp at my place was only 31F today.

Thanks Guy ( I mean CSM ) !.

Anytime. If you run into problems, just IM me. Good luck!

Hi,

I do similar and much more complicated calculations with mathcad.

They have a free 30day trial version.

I estimate you will solve your problem within 1 hour after reading the "getting started" section.

I recently did bending and buckling of flexure hinges, errors and particles in ballbearings, elastic structures in bycicles, airbearing design and more.

RHABE

I was just about to say that exact same thing.

I use Mathcad on a daily basis, and after a slowish start from using it through the Open Uni I now find it a very useful bit of software.

Like RHABE says - you can get a free 30 day trial of Mathcad 14 for being a member on this forum. Check your E-mails over the past few days.

Kev B

I also have been using MathCAD, since it was a DOS program. Unfortunately, it is no longer available in an affordable version. When i bought my last update, I could get MathCAD for about $100 or the pro version for about $1200 (IIRC). Now, you can only get the pro version.

Steep learning curve, but pretty short. One hour should get you going, another hour should have your graph.

Thanks # 6,#7 and #8 : But at $1200 , that's a little steep for me ( by $1000. ).

I too had MathCAD 3.5 for DOS and upgraded it to 4.0 for a nominal fee and I was able to afford it while a grad student. This was before academic discounts etc. The funny (sad?) thing is that for most of my work with MathCAD, I really don't use the capabilities much beyond the DOS version. It would be nice to pay for the version that suit ones needs instead of getting a Ferrari to run to the store to buy groceries.

I think mathcad can do the magic.

Try SciLab. Free. Pretty much like MathCad...

I teach math and often need to get a quick graph up on the lcd or printed. There are any number of free applets on the web. I use mthagv obtainable at www.mathgv.com. Very nice down and dirty app.