Engineering Functions in Excel
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A useful feature in Excel is Engineering Functions. They are not listed in the functions list by default, but get added when the Analysis ToolPak add-in is enabled. To enable this add-in in Excel 2003, go to the Tools Menu, choose Add-ins and then choose Analysis ToolPak. 
In Excel 2007, this Option is under Excel Options, choose Add-ins and click on the 'Go' button at the bottom of the form. 
Once the Analysis Toolpak is enabled, a new category of functions gets added in the list of functions. 
The Excel help provides help on the functions. Of the functions listed, of particular use are the complex functions and the conversion functions from digital to binary, Octal, Hex, etc. I have used these functions while setting dip switches in PLC and DCS cards. These switches are set in binary. While the calculation can be done by hand for a couple of cards, it becomes tedious when the number of cards goes up. The DEC2BIN function is handy in such cases. |