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[Phys-L] Re: Charts or Graphs, and other Excel stuff



Your experience and reaction is similar to those who object to the
"Encarta" dictionary. The solution is to ban the use of excell and
adopt another spread sheet/graphing app., e.g. Vernier's and
Kaleidograph. At UCSC the dept. requires(ed) the use of an ap. that
calculates(ed) Chi-square . Overwhelmingly we used the app. (fit)
written by Peter Scott (retired).

http://physics.ucsc.edu/~drip/programs.html

home page:

http://physics.ucsc.edu/~drip/

bc, who finally convinced a Vernier programmer to include Chi-square in
their fit, and is also bothered.

p.s. PowerPoint is an even worse matter.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

Tufte's HP:


http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/



Edmiston, Mike wrote:
I'm getting more and more students analyzing lab data with Excel, which
I encourage, and this is overall great... but there are some things that
irk me. I am wondering if these things bother other people, or if I am
just an old fashioned crabby guy.

(1) Students aren't referring to their graphs as graphs anymore.
They're calling them charts. Chart is a pretty broad word and could
include graphs (as well as tables and maps and other things), but I sure
would prefer they call a graph a graph.

(2) They are beginning to refer to the linear-regression line as the
trend line. Again, trend line strikes me as too broad. If the line is
a linear-regression line I would prefer they call it that. If it is a
2nd-order polynomial fit, I prefer they call it that.

(3) Suppose the intercept of a linear regression is an important
parameter for the report. Excel automatically runs the regression line
from the first data point to the last data point. It doesn't extend the
regression line to visually show the intercept unless you manually
extend it. I expect students to do this, but many don't, even after I
tell them.

(4) Students are not inclined to reformat the cells to show an
appropriate number of digits, or to make the table look nicer. They use
the default "general format" that leaves some numbers showing a 5 while
others show 6.23 while others show 4.142856 (these are in the same
column).

Okay... That's enough examples.

When I harp about these things, students are inclined to say, "Watch
out. With Edmiston it's his way or the highway." I'm inclined to think
my way is a standard and/or traditional way of doing things, and I am
not really a quirky person. Where do you stand on these types of
issues?

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu