{"id":20077,"date":"2017-02-14T21:29:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T21:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/?p=20077"},"modified":"2017-02-14T21:33:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T21:33:00","slug":"spreadsheets-how-to-use-excel-to-solve-an-equation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/spreadsheets-how-to-use-excel-to-solve-an-equation\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreadsheets: how to use Excel to solve an equation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tutor gives an example of using Excel’s Goal Seek.<\/h1>\n

Example:<\/p>\n

Solve lnx + 15= 0.25x<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Select a cell (let’s imagine e3), then name it X (or whatever name you prefer. See how to name a cell in my post here<\/a>.)<\/li>\n
  2. Select another cell (let’s imagine d3), then enter the formula =0.25*X<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Select yet another cell (let’s imagine c3), then enter =ln(X) + 15<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Select yet another cell (let’s imagine b3), then enter =c3 – d3<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Now, select the Data pane (it’s one of those across the top, along with Home, Page Layout, Formulas, etc). When you do, you’ll see a Data Tools area that will include What-If Analysis. Click that, then Goal Seek…<\/li>\n
  6. A dialogue will open. In our case, we want b3 to have value 0. So for Set Cell we can just select b3.<\/li>\n
  7. In the box To Value, we enter 0.<\/li>\n
  8. Our variable is in the cell named X. In the By Changing Cell box we enter X, e3, or simply select e3.<\/li>\n
  9. Clicking OK, we see the cells change as the answer evolves. Then a dialogue called Goal Seek Status opens, telling the solution if one is found. When you click OK, the solution (if found) will be applied to the relevant cells.<\/li>\n
  10. In this case, it seems that X becomes 77.39566, giving b3 a value of 1.69e-5 which equals 0.0000169. Excel deems this value close enough to 0, and I tend to agree:)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    HTH:)<\/p>\n

    Source:<\/p>\n

    Microsoft Excel 5.0 User’s Guide<\/u>. Microsoft Corporation, 1993.<\/p>\n

    Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane,<\/a> Campbell River, BC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The tutor gives an example of using Excel’s Goal Seek. Example: Solve lnx + 15= 0.25x Solution: Select a cell (let’s imagine e3), then name it X (or whatever name you prefer. See how to name a cell in my …<\/p>\n

    Spreadsheets: how to use Excel to solve an equation<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1583,1065],"tags":[2136,2137],"class_list":["post-20077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excel","category-spreadsheets","tag-excel-equation-solver","tag-goal-seek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20077"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20103,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077\/revisions\/20103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracletutoring.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}