Deciphering Spreadsheets with XLC At some time or other you will have been given someone else’s spreadsheet only to be left scratching your head not having a clue as to what the calculation is doing.  If you are wise you will not use it because you can’t understand it. If you are wiser still you’ll use our XLC software to render cell formulae into easily readable mathematical equations. Only when you are assured that the calculation method is correct can you use it with conviction.

XLC renders equations in just a few mouse clicks and can be used with single cells or cells arranged in a table. A free non-commercial version of the software is available by signing up for a trial subscription and you can re-subscribe on the trial subscription as many times as you like. We are grateful to users who support us with a paid subscription they get a license to use the software commercially and access to our repository of Excel solutions to engineering problems.

Thanks for your Referrals

We keep an eye on the proportion of new registrants that take up a paid subscription and we are pleased to report that the 2011 rate is more than double the 2010 take up rate. We have also seen a similar increase in referrals from friends so maybe there is a direct correlation here? Anyway we are delighted - user growth drives a virtuous circle yielding more shared content and better service.

Excel tips

Showing units in Excel calculations can sometimes look a little messy and not like what we would see in a text book (for example units of area shown as mm^2). Superscripting characters can be done by formatting text but Excel loses formatting information quite easily (for example if you refer to the cell in a cell formula). In our XLC calculation template we use some useful special characters which look superscripted but are actually normal characters. Finding the characters can be a little troublesome so just copy and paste them from below.

mm²  mm³  mm⁴ °C
 

Repository News

Checkout the new uploads since our last newsletter.

This file is located in the Fluid Mechanics folder. UpdateSimple Hydrostatic Transmission system calculations by roymech1. File version 3.0 view full version history.

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This file is located in the Wood folder. New!Flooring system using Solid timber floor joists by AndrewLivingstone.
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This file is located in the Geotechnics folder. New!Lateral pressure against retaining wall due to surcharge loads by yakpol.
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