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Re: Graphing Software



We just purchased a "lab full" of licenses for Origin 6.0. We used them with
upper division students for one semester in an advanced lab course and the
instructor was very pleased with its graphing and analysis capabilities. We
will be trying them with intro students next semester. It seems very
promising at that level as it is trivial to do a trivial plot. The opening
screen has a little two column spreadsheet to input data. When the data is
in, you chose a plot style from a menu. A dialog box appears for you to
specify which column is x and which is y, and the plot appears. Another
click does linear regression, plots the fit line on the plot, and brings up
a window with the fit parameters and errors. Clicking on the axes and labels
allow you to customize them.

So, our hope is that we can use this package all through the curriculum,
introducing advanced features as needed. We will see how it turns out...

For others who use PC clones and don't have a budget, we freely distribute a
quite nice graphing program called PhysFit written here at Kenyon. It was
originally intended for intro lab, but the last developer was a student who
frustrated the advanced lab instructor (at that time, me) by automating all
the tasks that I wanted the students to write C programs for. So, it
includes some nice analysis tools. Perhaps its biggest drawback is that you
can only plot one set of data on each plot. But it's free!

You can download PhysFit from
ftp.kenyon.edu/pub/physics/SOFTWARE/WINDOWS/PHYSFIT/PF32.EXE for the 32 bit
version or .../PHYSFIT.EXE for the older 16 bit version suitable for older,
Windows 3.1 machines. These are actual executable files so no need to unzip.
Just be sure to transfer them in binary format. And case matters in the
pathnames.

Tim Sullivan
sullivan@kenyon.edu

"Robert L. Fenstermacher" wrote:

We are looking to buy a more sophisticated graphing and analysis
software package for both student and faculty use in the department.
(We currently get by with Quattro Pro, Graphical Analysis, and Pasco's
Science Workshop software.) The two most recommended packages seem to
be SigmaPlot 2000 and Origin 6.0. Can anyone share their impressions of
these, or suggest other alternatives? Thanks.

- Bob

--

Bob Fenstermacher
Professor of Physics
Drew University
Madison NJ 07940
(973) 408-3371
(973) 408-3572 FAX
rfenster@drew.edu