UNIT 3 Exercises

Trigonometric Functions
We have seen previously that Excel has many built-in functions that are categorised and that can
be accessed via the fx button. One of those categories is Math & Trig.

Task 1: Graphs of trigonometric functions.

Now we will look at comparing more than one trigonometric function in the same graph.
Reproduce the following table and use it to create the graph shown below.

NB use functions to convert the degrees to radians and to find SinA and Sin2A. Note that the
sine and cosine functions require the angle to be entered in radians, and you can convert from
degrees to the value in radians for the angle by
using the RADIANS function.

Recreate the following table. You can find the

degree symbol in the insert symbol window (or
if you can’t find it, you can use alt + 0176.

Comparison of y = sin(A) and y = sin(2A)

1.500

1.000

0.500

Y 0.000 y = Sin(A)
0.000 50.000 100.000 150.000 200.000 250.000 300.000 350.000 400.000 y = Sin(2A)
-0.500

-1.000

-1.500
Angle (degrees)

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 1. Plot a graph showing the two functions y = sin A and y = sin 2A.

2. Add the axes, series and chart labels as shown.

3. Do the same thing for the functions y = cos A and y = cos A

Order of Operations: BODMAS

Just like in maths the order of operation (BODMAS or PEDMAS) follows and is important when we
are entering formulae.

Supposing I have entered the following formula. B2+B3/3 and I mean the add 24 to 42 and then
divide by 3 to get 22. You need to be aware of the order of operations to make sure you get the
intended result.

So If I enter B2 +B3 /3, I will not get 22 as B Brackets

expected, due to the order of operations.
O Order

D Division
Instead must rewrite the equation and this is often done using
brackets to force the action in the brackets to be carried out first. M Multiplication
In this case the addition is in brackets and is carried out
A Addition
before the division to give the expected answer.
S Subtraction

The next exercise requires you to enter a more complex set of equations so it is necessary to be
aware of the order of operations and it will also help if we can rename cells to use a meaningful
name rather than just using the cell address.

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Naming Cells and Ranges
When you are using Excel you will mostly be using it for engineering problems so there
are a few functions and techniques that you may find useful.
An example problem might be calculating stress and strain in a beam. This is a common
requirement in mechanical and civil engineering. In most cases, standard beams can be
modelled with a set of simple analytical equations.

The equations are given below and you can write them in an Excel spreadsheet but only
in the desktop version so for today’s exercise we will use the desktop version.

Go to the Insert tab and the equation option. Select it and a window saying insert equa-
tion here should appear. Move it to somewhere near the top right of the spreadsheet.

Note that there are some commonly used built in equa-

tions but we want to write our own to represent the
stresses in the beam.

The equation editor should be visible and you should be able to select symbols to rec-
reate the equations.

The equation editor in Excel is the same as the one in Word and it takes a little practice
to use but will useful for writing reports etc.

The Equations
Stress(s)in a cantilever beam with a single point load, as illustrated below, can be calcu-
lated at any point x with the following equation:

The deflection (y) of the beam is calculated with two equations, depending whether x is
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 less than L or greater than or equal to L:

where
W is the applied load (lbs)
L is the location of the load (in) Cantilever Beam
x is the location of any point measured from the wall (in)
Z is the section modulus of the beam (in 3)
E is the modulus of elasticity (psi)
I is the moment of inertia (in 4)

• Your task is to set up a spreadsheet to calculate and plot: Stress & Deflection
for a cantilever beam along its length.
• Insert a picture of the cantilever on your sheet as shown above.
• Save your file as firstname-lastname UNIT3.
•
NB when using the desktop version of Excel you will need to save the file locally and then open
365cloud and drag the file into the cloud COMP1000 folder where you should keep all your excel
files.

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Naming Cells and Ranges
1. Naming Cells

Select the cell/cells you want to name along with their corresponding labels. Then
select the Formulas tab/Create from Selection or Select the cell you want to name,
then type the name in the Name box and hit return.

2. Deleting or changing Named Cells

If you name a cell incorrectly by mistake or wish to change the name given then select
Formulas tab/Name Manager

Select the name and

hit the delete button or
change the cell referred to
in RefersTo

STEPS to create the data

Copy the contents of the starter file into your own spreadsheet and then enter the input data in
the range (B13:D19).

1. Name the cells as follows: C10→dx, C14→L, C15→W, C17→Z, C18→I, C19→E, the range
⬚ ⬚ ⬚ ⬚ ⬚ ⬚
G8:G20→x
⬚
2. Enter a column labelled Dist from Wall, x. Start at zero, then use a basic formula refer-
ring to dx to increment every 12 inches and autofill it downwards to 144 inches.
3. Enter a column labelled Stress. Enter an IF formula in cell H8 to calculate stress and
autofill downwards. If you have named the cells as above, then this should make the
formula easier to build.
4. Enter a column labelled Deflection. Enter an IF formula in cell I8 to calculate deflection
and autofill downwards.
5. Using the values calculated, plot a chart (data points only) for Stress and
Deflection versus x.
6. Plot Stress as a secondary axis, and give the font and scale the same colours as the data
point markers (try red for Stress, blue for Deflection).
7. Insert trendlines through both sets of data. The trendline should be forced to go
through (0,0) if appropriate.
8. The trendline equation and R2 value should be displayed on the chart. Experiment with
the various types of trendline until you get the best R2.

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The idea is that if you name the cells it is easier to see what is going on in a complex formula.

30000 1.00
y = 3E-05x2 + 0.0024x - 0.0227
y = -192.35x + 24620 R² = 0.998
25000
R² = 0.9821 0.80

20000
0.60

15000
0.40
10000

0.20
5000

0.00
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
-5000 -0.20

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 Notes on Trendlines and Naming Cells

Trendlines & Equations

• Using the values below, plot a chart (data points only) for each data series. In-
sert trendlines through each data series. (You can copy the data from the
starter file).
• The trendline equation and R2 value should be displayed on the chart.
• Experiment with the various types of trendline (linear, exponential, polyno-
mial etc.) until you get the best R2. The R2 value is a measure of goodness of
fit i.e. how well the calculated trendline fits the data. A perfect fit is 1 and the
worst fit is 0.
• The trendline should be forced to go through (0,0) if appropriate. In this case
Set intercept = 0

Plot the following four sets of data on a graph and try to fit a curve
using the add trendline method.
x y1 y2 y3 y4
0 5 0.00 1.00 100.00
10 15.2 6.00 1.35 74.08
20 36 10.00 1.82 54.88
30 39.2 10.00 2.46 40.66
40 46.8 21.00 3.32 30.12
50 63.2 16.00 4.48 22.31
60 78.6 36.00 6.05 16.53
70 96 45.00 8.17 12.25
80 91.3 65.00 11.02 9.07
90 117.5 66.00 14.88 6.72
100 123.2 78.00 20.09 4.98
110 128.6 75.00 27.11 3.69
120 150.8 101.00 36.60 2.73
130 164 120.00 46.81 2.14
140 166.7 125.00 66.69 1.50
150 183.2 137.00 96.74 1.03

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Method

• Graph the data series.

• Select an individual data series, then from the
right-click flyout menu select Add trendline
• The Trendline Options should be seen, as be-
low.
• Select a particular type of trendline that you
think best suits the data series. (linear, expo-
nential, polynomial etc.)
• Tick the Display Equation on chart and Display
R-squared value on chart check boxes.
• Tick the Set intercept = 0 check box only
if the data series goes through (0,0). Oth-
erwise specify the value of the intercept.