3.2 The Calc charting capability
Today we are in danger of being overwhelmed by too much data, the raw material of information. We even have an acronym for it—TMI—too much information. It is a genuine problem.
One of many solutions to TMI is charts—graphic, colorful, eye-catching. Charts—quality charts that don’t mess with the data—try to reduce the masses of data on any particular subject to a meaningful analysis of what’s going on. This applies as much to the meaning of world events as it does to the progress of an individual student in your class. Charts, in other words, are a powerful way to convey what would otherwise be complex information.
Calc makes it easy to create dozens of different types of charts. You can create a chart from information gathered in most any spreadsheet.
A spreadsheet user can take advantage of charts based on the numbers stored in its rows and columns of cells. The numbers on their own may not provide much information. Charts based on those numbers, on the other hand, may enable the user to visualize the data. "A picture," as they say, "is worth a thousand words." A well-designed chart can help you make sense of a thousand numbers.
Charts are also useful when you need to increase the impact of any oral or written presentation. Think of the many charts that you now see presented on TV and in other media; their purpose is to help you make sense of all the data out there, whether it’s business data, weather data, data related to politics, and so on.
We must be wary of charts, of course, because, like statistics, they can be guilty of purveying, well, lies. But charts that are well-designed and honestly-designed will help you understand what they need to know.
Now, let’s check out each of the various categories of LibreOffice charts. In the Standard toolbar, click on the Chart tool. This immediately brings up a basic chart (a bar chart) based on the data highlighted in the spreadsheet, and also offers the Chart Wizard dialog box (Fig. 3.5).
Fig. 5.31 The LibreOffice Chart Wizard
The Chart Wizard dialog box opens up a world of opportunities to create other eye-catching and, more importantly, effective chart styles—effective, that is, in the sense of getting the true meaning of the data across.
3.3 Tasks for Independent Work
For every variant you need to perform:
a)
Calculate
the table and
build the graph of
the function
where
b) Calculate the table and build the graph of the function, which is given parametrically;
c)
Calculate
the table and
build the graph of the surface
,
where
d) Solve the system Cx=D of linear algebraic equations using apropriate functions.
Variant 1.
а)
b)
c)
-
C
D
1
2
3
13
2
3
5
4
3
5
9
17
Variant 2.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
0,55
1
4
9
1,35
1
8
27
3,55
Variant 3.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
0,42
1,43
0,27
1
1,43
-0,84
0,93
2
0,27
0,93
-0,48
3
Variant 4.
а)
b)
c)
-
d) C
D
0,64
0,54
-0,33
3
0,54
-0,92
0,24
2
-0,33
0,24
0,78
1
Variant 5.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
13
2
3
5
4
3
5
9
17
Variant 6.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
0,55
1
4
9
1,35
1
8
27
3,55
Variant 7.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
0,42
1,43
0,27
1
1,43
-0,84
0,93
2
0,27
0,93
-0,48
3
Variant 8.
а)
b)
c)
-
C
D
1
2
3
13
2
3
5
4
3
5
9
17
Variant 9.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
0,55
1
4
9
1,35
1
8
27
3,55
Variant 10.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
0,42
1,43
0,27
1
1,43
-0,84
0,93
2
0,27
0,93
-0,48
3
Variant 11.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
13
2
3
5
4
3
5
9
17
Variant 12.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
0,64
0,54
-0,33
3
0,54
-0,92
0,24
2
-0,33
0,24
0,78
1
Variant 13.
а)
b)
c)
d)
-
C
D
1
2
3
13
2
3
5
4
3
5
9
17
3.4 Test questions
Enumerate basic objects of spreadsheets.
Enumerate elements of Calc’s window.
What type of data can be stored in the cell?
What is the range? How to write address of the range?
Explain the difference between absolute and relative address of a cell.
How to copy information from one cell to another?
What Calc functions do you know?
Give rules for writing formulas in cells.
What types of diagrams are in Calc?
What is Diagram Wizard?
4 Laboratory work № 4
Introduction to scilab
4.1 Basic theoretical knowledge
Scilab is a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, and numeric computation. Using the SCILAB product, you can solve technical computing problems faster than with traditional programming languages, such as C, C++, and FORTRAN.
SCILAB is a computer program for people doing numerical computation, especially linear algebra (matrices).
SCILAB provides a number of features for documenting and sharing your work. Features include:
High-level language for technical computing;
Development environment for managing code, files, and data;
Interactive tools for iterative exploration, design, and problem solving;
Mathematical functions for linear algebra, statistics, Fourier analysis, filtering, optimization, and numerical integration;
2-D and 3-D graphics functions for visualizing data;
Tools for building custom graphical user interfaces.
The SCILAB language is a high-level matrix/array language with control flow statements, functions, data structures, input/output, and object-oriented programming features. It allows both "programming in the small" to rapidly create quick programs you do not intend to reuse. You can also do "programming in the large" to create complex application programs intended for reuse.
The Desktop of Scilab system contains such windows:
1) Command Window (командное окно) - is where you can interact with Scilab directly.
The sign "-->" is called the command prompt. After you type a command in the command prompt, SCILAB executes the command, then display out the result. Then Scilab waits for you to enter another command. In this way, you can interactively enter as many commands to SCILAB as you want.
2) Work Space (обозреватель переменных) - is an area of memory which contains replaceable systems created during the work of Scilab. In window Workspace it is authorized to reconsider, edit and delete these variables. Binary files in which variable values of the work area can be kept, have extension *.sci. For same purpose it is possible to use the following commands:
who - gives out the short list of all variables of workspace;
whos - lists the current variables and their sizes and types. It also reports the totals for sizes;
clear – clears the work space;
clear variable_1, variable_2 [,…] - to delete the pointed variables;
save(‘name_of_file’) - keeps the contents of working space in a file;
save(‘name_of_file’, X,Y,Z) - keeps the X, Y, Z in file.
Load(‘name_of_file’) - loads the variables in the work space from a file.
3) Current Directory (обозреватель файлов). Package Scilab uses concepts of the current catalogue working with files during a session. Window Current Directory allows establishing the current catalogue, to reconsider, edit, delete and start files of this catalogue on performance.
4) Window Command History (журнал команд) - Displays all commands issued in SCILAB since the last session (good for learning and verification).