Page 19 - Excel for Scientists and Engineers: Numerical Methods

xvi EXCEL: NUMERICAL METHODS

topics, such as Bairstow's method for obtaining the roots of a regular polynomial,
are discussed in detail.
In this book I have provided a wide range of Excel solutions to problems. In
many cases I provide a series of examples that progress from a very simple
implementation of the problem (useful for understanding the logic and
construction of the spreadsheet or VBA code) to a more sophisticated one that is
more general. Some of the VBA macros are simple "starting points" and I
encourage the reader to modify them; others are (or at least I intended them to
be) "finished products" that I hope users can employ on a regular basis.
Nearly 100% of the material in this book applies equally to the PC or
Macintosh versions of Excel. In a few cases I have pointed out the different
keystrokes requires for the Macintosh version.

A Note About Visual Basic Programming

Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA, is a "dialect" of Microsoft's Visual
Basic programming language. VBA has keywords that allow the programmer to
work with Excel's workbooks, worksheets, cells, charts, etc.
I expect that although many readers of this book will be proficient VBA
programmers, others may not be familiar with VBA but would like to learn to
program in VBA. The first two chapters of this book provide an introduction to
VBA programming - not enough to become proficient, but enough to understand
and perhaps modify the VBA code in this book. For readers who have no
familiarity with VBA, and who do not wish to learn it, do not despair. Much of
the book (perhaps 50%) does not involve VBA. In addition, you can still use the
VBA custom functions that have been provided.
Appendix 1 provides a list of VBA keywords that are used in this book. The
appendix provides a description of the keyword, its syntax, one or more examples
of its use, and reference to related keywords. The information is similar to what
can be found in Excel's On-Line Help, but readers may find it helpful at those
times when they are reading the book without simultaneous access to a PC.

A Note About Typographic Conventions
The typographic conventions used in this book are the following:

Menu Commands. Excel's menu commands appear in bold, as in the
following examples: 'lchoose Add Trendline ... from the Chart menu.. .,'I or
"Insert-Function.. .'I