Why don't I just use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel?
Spreadsheet programs are ample to record results and output the data in graphs, and with Excel being a part of a standard software package like Microsoft, they are easily accessible. However, at the end of the day, Excel was designed and is best suited for financial calculations, and are often associated with the following flaws:
- Finding errors in design analysis is cryptic and time consuming; and with spreadsheet programs, design analysis errors are easy to make.
- There is no efficient way to solve advanced mathematical functions that are often found in design analysis.
- It may not always capture the true intent of a calculation.
- It is an unorganised and impractical method to manage IP, let alone drive key parameters in important designs or to pass calculations onto a co-worker
Can you find the error?
Excel's Spreadsheets and Mathcad's Worksheets
At one point or another, everyone has used Excel and is familiar with its spreadsheet setup; a great system for recording data, not so great for engineers. Whilst it's true that engineers need to calculate and record data, there is no point if that data cannot be properly transferred to someone else downstream or if the intent is inappropriately conveyed. Furthermore, with no documentation capacity, users are stuck with needing to transfer this data to a word processor like Microsoft Word and begin documenting and analysing the results.
With Mathcad's worksheet system and innovative graph paper underlay, engineers are able to document their calculations as they are working, whereby combining the designing and reporting processes together. There is no need to perform the calculations and then have to transfer the results over to another program to process. Furthermore, by incorporating natural math notation, there is no loss of design intention and anybody that reads the document afterwards can easily follow how you came to the result.
Finally, as a normality within the engineering industry, changes may need to be made to account for factors initially unforeseen. With Excel/Word, any changes mean a lengthy re-calculation process and an even longer documenting process; and what if they make another change after that? By combining the documenting capabilities and the live calculations feature of Mathcad, any changes made are instantly reflected downstream, with no requirement to repeat any work already performed.
What if I record my results using Microsoft Excel?
Engineering calculation programs are designed to be robust and fluid in the data that they receive and obtain. In the event that users use Microsoft Excel to record their data, calculation programs are able to read data from Excel spreadsheets or to manually input these numbers straight into the program for manipulation. Furthermore, with the release of Prime 2.0, engineers will be able to directly manipulate spreadsheets without the need to 'read in' and then assign that data to a variable.