An Aresenal of Data Analysis Techniques

As a naval architect and marine engineer, David M. Bourg performs computer simulations and develops analysis tools that measure such things as hovercraft performance and the effect of waves on the motion of ships and boats. He teaches at the college level in the areas of ship design, construction and analysis. On occasion, David also lectures at high schools on topics such as naval architecture and software development. In addition to David's practical engineering background, he's professionally involved in computer game development and consulting through his company, Crescent Vision Interactive. Current projects include a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, several Java-based multiplayer games, and the porting of Hasbro's Breakout to the Macintosh. Glenn Seeman is a veteran game programmer with over a dozen games to his credit, for Mac and Windows systems. He's a co-founder with David Bourg, of Crescent Vision Interactive, a game development company specializing in cross-platform games.

Preface 1. Using Excel 1.1 Navigating the Interface 1.2 Entering Data 1.3 Setting Cell Data Types 1.4 Selecting More Than a Single Cell 1.5 Entering Formulas 1.6 Exploring the R1C1 Cell Reference Style 1.7 Referring to More Than a Single Cell 1.8 Understanding Operator Precedence 1.9 Using Exponents in Formulas 1.10 Exploring Functions 1.11 Formatting Your Spreadsheets 1.12 Defining Custom Format Styles 1.13 Leveraging Copy, Cut, Paste, and Paste Special 1.14 Using Cell Names (Like Programming Variables) 1.15 Validating Data 1.16 Taking Advantage of Macros 1.17 Adding Comments and Equation Notes 1.18 Getting Help 2. Getting Acquainted with Visual Basic for Applications 2.1 Navigating the VBA Editor 2.2 Writing Functions and Subroutines 2.3 Working with Data Types 2.4 Defining Variables 2.5 Defining Constants 2.6 Using Arrays 2.7 Commenting Code 2.8 Spanning Long Statements over Multiple Lines 2.9 Using Conditional Statements 2.10 Using Loops 2.11 Debugging VBA Code 2.12 Exploring VBA's Built-in Functions 2.13 Exploring Excel Objects 2.14 Creating Your Own Objects in VBA 2.15 VBA Help 3. Collecting and Cleaning Up Data 3.1 Importing Data from Text Files 3.2 Importing Data from Delimited Text Files 3.3 Importing Data Using Drag-and-Drop 3.4 Importing Data from Access Databases 3.5 Importing Data from Web Pages 3.6 Parsing Data 3.7 Removing Weird Characters from Imported Text 3.8 Converting Units 3.9 Sorting Data 3.10 Filtering Data 3.11 Looking Up Values in Tables 3.12 Retrieving Data from XML Files 4. Charting 4.1 Creating Simple Charts 4.2 Exploring Chart Styles 4.3 Formatting Charts 4.4 Customizing Chart Axes 4.5 Setting Log or Semilog Scales 4.6 Using Multiple Axes 4.7 Changing the Type of an Existing Chart 4.8 Combining Chart Types 4.9 Building 3D Surface Plots 4.10 Preparing Contour Plots 4.11 Annotating Charts 4.12 Saving Custom Chart Types 4.13 Copying Charts to Word 4.14 Displaying Error Bars 5. Statistical Analysis 5.1 Computing Summary Statistics 5.2 Plotting Frequency Distributions 5.3 Calculating Confidence Intervals 5.4 Correlating Data 5.5 Ranking and Percentiles 5.6 Performing Statistical Tests 5.7 Conducting ANOVA 5.8 Generating Random Numbers 5.9 Sampling Data 6. Time Series Analysis 6.1 Plotting Time Series Data 6.2 Adding Trendlines 6.3 Computing Moving Averages 6.4 Smoothing Data Using Weighted Averages 6.5 Centering Data 6.6 Detrending a Time Series 6.7 Estimating Seasonal Indices 6.8 Deseasonalization of a Time Series 6.9 Forecasting 6.10 Applying Discrete Fourier Transforms 7. Mathematical Functions 7.1 Using Summation Functions 7.2 Delving into Division 7.3 Mastering Multiplication 7.4 Exploring Exponential and Logarithmic Functions 7.5 Using Trigonometry Functions 7.6 Seeing Signs 7.7 Getting to the Root of Things 7.8 Rounding and Truncating Numbers 7.9 Converting Between Number Systems 7.10 Manipulating Matrices 7.11 Building Support for Vectors 7.12 Using Spreadsheet Functions in VBA Code 7.13 Dealing with Complex Numbers 8. Curve Fitting and Regression 8.1 Performing Linear Curve Fitting Using Excel Charts 8.2 Constructing Your Own Linear Fit Using Spreadsheet Functions 8.3 Using a Single Spreadsheet Function for Linear Curve Fitting 8.4 Performing Multiple Linear Regression 8.5 Generating Nonlinear Curve Fits Using Excel Charts 8.6 Fitting Nonlinear Curves Using Solver 8.7 Assessing Goodness of Fit 8.8 Computing Confidence Intervals 9. Solving Equations 9.1 Finding Roots Graphically 9.2 Solving Nonlinear Equations Iteratively 9.3 Automating Tedious Problems with VBA 9.4 Solving Linear Systems 9.5 Tackling Nonlinear Systems of Equations 9.6 Using Classical Methods for Solving Equations 10. Numerical Integration and Differentiation 10.1 Integrating a Definite Integral 10.2 Implementing the Trapezoidal Rule in VBA 10.3 Computing the Center of an Area Using Numerical Integration 10.4 Calculating the Second Moment of an Area 10.5 Dealing with Double Integrals 10.6 Numerical Differentiation 11. Solving Ordinary Differential Equations 11.1 Solving First-Order Initial Value Problems 11.2 Applying the Runge-Kutta Method to Second-Order Initial Value Problems 11.3 Tackling Coupled Equations 11.4 Shooting Boundary Value Problems 12. Solving Partial Differential Equations 12.1 Leveraging Excel to Directly Solve Finite Difference Equations 12.2 Recruiting Solver to Iteratively Solve Finite Difference Equations 12.3 Solving Initial Value Problems 12.4 Using Excel to Help Solve Problems Formulated Using the Finite Element Method 13. Performing Optimization Analyses in Excel 13.1 Using Excel for Traditional Linear Programming 13.2 Exploring Resource Allocation Optimization Problems 13.3 Getting More Realistic Results with Integer Constraints 13.4 Tackling Troublesome Problems 13.5 Optimizing Engineering Design Problems 13.6 Understanding Solver Reports 13.7 Programming a Genetic Algorithm for Optimization 14. Introduction to Financial Calculations 14.1 Computing Present Value 14.2 Calculating Future Value 14.3 Figuring Out Required Rate of Return 14.4 Doubling Your Money 14.5 Determining Monthly Payments 14.6 Considering Cash Flow Alternatives 14.7 Achieving a Certain Future Value 14.8 Assessing Net Present Worth 14.9 Estimating Rate of Return 14.10 Solving Inverse Problems 14.11 Figuring a Break-Even Point Index