Spreadsheet reference books

Note that the version of VBA included with recent versions of Excel is a dialect of Visual BASIC. It is, at the same time, a subset and an extension, because it is specialized for use with a spreadsheet. Therefore, ifyouwantto learn more about VBA, consult books on VBA for Excel rather than those on Visual BASIC, because quite a few of the commands ofVisual BASIC do not exist in VBA, and vice versa. Of the many books available, useful early introductions are E. Boonin, UsingExcel Visual Basic for Applications, thefast and easy way to learn, Que (1996), and R. Jacobson, Microsoft Excel / Visual Basic, Step by Step, Microsoft Press (1995). As a general reference book use the Microsoft Excel / Visual Basic Programmer s Guide, Microsoft Press (1995). An extensive recent manual is J. Green, Excel 2000 VBA, Wrox Press (1999). Section 10.12 briefly summarizes the main syntactic features ofVBA. 

It is difficult to combine all the preceding variables into a single equation, model, or computer program for furnace design. Engineers have calculated tables, drawn charts, and developed spreadsheets for combinations of the variables that fit the types of furnaces and loads that frequently occur in their practice. This reference book cannot furnish procedures for every conceivable combination. Instead, a generalized method will be developed that will suffice for many practical purposes. 

The distribution disk with this book includes a folder entitled BNLDATA which contains the file bnlgener.xls, a spreadsheet in EXCEL format. It is a collection of failure rate data drawn from many sources. The file refem.txt contains the references to the table s data. There are 1,311 data entries many cite different estimates by different organizations for the failure rate of the same... 

New Spreadsheet Summaries. References to our companion book Applications of Microsoft Excel in Analytical Chemistry are given as Spreadsheet Summaries in the text. These are intended to direct the user to examples, tutorials and elaborations of the text topics. 

Spreadsheet applications have been included throughout lo illustrate how these powerful programs can be applied to instrumental methods. Problems accompanied by this icon encourage the use of spreadsheets. When a more detailed approach is required or supplemental reading is appropriate, readers are referred lo our companion book, Applications of Microsoft Excel in Analytical Chemistry (Belmont. CA Brooks/Cole. 2(MM), for assistance in understanding these applications. 

Additional information is provided in the Appendix. Using the various sections of the book and the examples of the azobenzene and of the trans-stilbene photoreaction, the process of photokinetic analysis is demonstrated step by step. References to useful software and programs are provided in many literature citations, therefore these are not included in the Appendix. However, it proved helpful to use spreadsheets for simple evaluations. For this reason a Macro for formal integration is included. Its use is demonstrated by means of a simple reaction. 

A major objective of this book is help you become familiar with and confident about the important ideas used by analytical chemists. These ideas are also essential to others who make physical and chemical measurements the basis for their decision-making. This includes chemists in general, engineers, physicists, physicians, etc. In it we will examine the ideas themselves and their relation to each other. By this means, we will by develop appropriate, rigorous equations which will be made "user friendly" by the techniques used here to solve them. Together we will conquer all tedious and repetitive arithmetic operations with the help of a computer spreadsheet program. The one we use is called Quattro Pro (QPro). We will give references in the text to the QPro menu and commands as well as those for Lotus 123, and the older Quattro version can be called up. 

Most engineering students are familiar with the use of spreadsheets, but they may not be familiar with the power of spreadsheets when they are coupled with VBA. VBA is an extremely useful programming language for controlling spreadsheets. Word, and other Microsoft programs. This short introduction focuses on use of VBA for spreadsheet calculations. The particular exanple is binary distillation, but the VBA programming method is applicable to many of the separation methods in this book. Readers interested in more information on VBA are referred to Microsoft (1999) or McFedries (2004). 

For all numerical examples discussed in the book, we have developed spreadsheets that stndents can use to understand the concept. These spreadsheets are referred to in the book and allow the student to try different what-if analyses. These spreadsheets are available at www.pearsonhighered.com/chopra along with basic guidance on how they may be used. 

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