Graphical Analysis 3.0 COPYRIGHT © 2002 Vernier Software & Technology ISBN# 1-929075-16-2 Vernier Software & Technology 13979 SW Millikan Way Beaverton, Oregon 97005-2886 Phone (503) 277-2299 FAX (503) 277-2440 www.vernier.com info@vernier.
Graphical Analysis 3.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL............................................................................................ 5 USER’S MANUAL............................................................................................................... 7 General Description of the Program and online Help ............................................................................... 7 Fast Start (If you don’t read manuals) ......................................................
Graphical Analysis 3.0 How to Use this Manual This manual is divided into two main sections: the User’s Manual and the Teacher’s Guide. The User’s Manual includes a quick introduction to the most important features of the program. The Teacher’s Guide contains computer requirements, how to install the software, details on importing data, suggested uses, and descriptions of the sample data. Some familiarity with the use of Windows and/or Macintosh computers and a mouse is assumed in this manual.
Graphical Analysis 3.0 is a copyrighted program by Vernier Software & Technology. The program does not have any copy protection and back-up copies may be made using standard procedures. Purchasers of Graphical Analysis 3.0 are permitted to make as many copies of the program as they wish for use within their own high school or college department. This includes a student site license for home use. Making copies for any other purpose is prohibited. Graphical Analysis 3.
Graphical Analysis 3.0 USER’S MANUAL General Description of the Program and online Help Graphical Analysis is a user-friendly program that allows you to easily graph and analyze data. Data may be manually entered from the keyboard, pasted from the clipboard, or retrieved from a file saved on disk.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL Fast Start (If you don’t read manuals) Many computer users do not believe in manuals. If you are one of them, we offer this information to get you started with Graphical Analysis. • • • • • • • Double-click the Graphical Analysis icon. Click the Close button in the Tip of the Day box to continue. Enter data into the data table. Double-click on the graph to change its features. Click on the numbers at the ends of the axes to change the scaling.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL Objects Graphical Analysis provides different objects that can be displayed on the screen in an overlapping format. Numerous combinations allow you to customize the presentation. The Page Object is the foundation upon which you can add, modify, and delete objects. As you work with the Graphical Analysis program, you can choose from six types of objects: • • • • • • Data Table objects use a table to display data in the same way a spreadsheet does.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL The Data Browser The Data Browser represents all the data available to the current document, not simply the data from the current graph, table, or page. All data will always be accessible in the browser, regardless of whether it’s visible in the current page, the current table or graph. Data Browser features: • Drag-and-drop from the Data Browser to objects such as tables and graphs.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL New Data: Whenever a data set or column is created, it will automatically be added to the graph or table. Appearance: X and Y Error Bars: The ranges or error bars are defined by the raw values in the selected variables. This error number can be interpreted as a percentage of the base value, or as a fixed value. Point Protectors: Mark every nth point with a point protector. Set the styles and the spacing between point protectors in the Column Options Dialog.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL Analysis Tools Six very useful analysis tools can be found on the toolbar. Those tools are available by clicking any of the following buttons: Examine , Tangent Line , Statistics Integrate , Regression Line , or Curve Fit . A floating box (helper object) will appear showing the results of this analysis. To delete the object and the graph item to which it points to (an integral, regression line, curve fit, etc.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL Creating a New Column of Data One of the most useful features of Graphical Analysis is the ability to plot graphs of modified data. This is extremely helpful in looking for the relationship between variables. The section entitled “Graphing Modified Data” later in this User’s Manual has several examples showing the use of this concept. To create a new column, select either New Calculated Column or New Manual Column from the Data Menu.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL If you want to automatically populate a column with generated numeric values or special labels (such as months or data set names), check the Generate Column box in the Column Definition tab. You can then scroll the list for the values or labels you want. Click the Options tab to change the point protector symbol, the column color, and the size of the error bars.
Graphical Analysis for Windows USER’S MANUAL To create a new data set, select New Data Set from the Data menu, or click the button from the Data Browser. The new data set will appear in the data table. Numbers can be entered into these new data set columns as they were in the original data columns. You can control which data sets appear on a graph by clicking the Y-axis label and checking or unchecking the box for each data set. You can have as many rows or columns as your computer’s memory will allow.
Graphical Analysis for Windows • • USER’S MANUAL 2. In Graphical Analysis 3, import the data by choosing “Import from . . . Text file” from the File menu. Choose Files of All types (*.*). As you go to load the file, you will get a warning message. Click on OK and import the file as text. To import from Excel: Run Excel and load or create your spreadsheet. Go to File Save As and choose the option “Text(tab delimited).
Graphical Analysis for Windows Generate data USER’S MANUAL If you want to automatically populate a column with generated numeric values or special labels (such as months or data set names), select New Manual Column from the Data Menu. Check the Generate Column box in the Column Definition tab. You can then scroll the list for the values or labels you want. Click OK, and the new column will be added to your current Data Set. Interpolate or extrapolate from the regression line or fitted curve of the data.
Graphical Analysis 3.0 TEACHER’S MANUAL Getting Started Computer Requirements Windows requirements: • Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.x, Windows ME, and Windows XP. • 133 MHz Pentium processor or better. • 16MB physical RAM plus free hard disk space (for virtual memory). • Color monitor (>=256 colors) Macintosh requirements: • MacOS 8.x, MacOS 9.x, MacOS X. • 66 MHz PowerPC processor or better. • 16MB machine RAM, 8MB for the application partition.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL Graphing Data Collected with Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators, LabPro , CBL 2 , and CBL TI Graphing Calculators You can use the Graphical Analysis program to transfer the data on the calculator to your computer for analysis or printing. To do this, you need a TI-GRAPH LINK cable, which is part of the TI-GRAPH LINK package and is sold by Vernier Software & Technology and other Texas Instruments dealers.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL 6. Click OK to send the data lists to the computer. The data will appear in columns in the data table. They will be labeled with the simple list names from the calculator. If you want to re-name them or add units, double-click on the column heading in the data table and enter new labels and units.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL Importing Text You can import data saved with the Export Text menu item or files created and saved from other software (e.g. Excel). The file must be in the tab-delimited or comma-separated text format (a .txt, .TEXT, .dat or .csv extension). Data are imported only into the latest data columns. You can also use this feature to import data prepared or collected in another program into Graphical Analysis.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL Chemistry Titration A titration is a process used to determine the volume of a solution needed to react with a given amount of another substance. The data in this sample file are from a titration of an HCl solution with an NaOH solution. Beer’s Law This is absorbance vs. concentration data for a set of solutions. A linear fit to the data (Beer’s law) and the use of the Interpolate option in the Analyze menu help to determine the concentration of the unknown.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL Imported Data Accelerating a Car This is acceleration data collected with a Low-g Accelerometer. The data was collected as a Toyota Celica with a four-speed manual transmission accelerated from 0 to 95 km/hr (26.4 m/s). Barometer During a Storm This is barometric pressure data recorded in Portland, OR, during the biggest storm in the last 20 years of the last century.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL General Notes Statistics The standard deviation used in statistical calculations is std.dev. = where ∑ x i2 − n ⋅ x 2m n −1 xm = mean n = number of data points This is sometimes referred to as the sample standard deviation. The program calculates the “best fit” line using linear regression by the method of least squares.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL These are fairly standard formulas.3 The coefficient of regression is a useful measure of how well the data fit a straight line, but it should not be overused. Always examine the graph. The coefficient is greatly affected by a few extreme points. Smoothing When Smooth Ave is used in a calculated column, the column data, zj, is a weighted average of the number of points selected by the user to use in smoothing, m.
Graphical Analysis for Windows TEACHER’S MANUAL Questions about Graphical Analysis Graphical Analysis is the fifth version of a program, first written in 1982 for the Apple II. Many of the features of the program are the result of suggestions made by users of earlier versions of the program. We thank all of them for their support and suggestions. If you have any problems or questions about this program, or if you are not on our mailing list, please contact us.
