Laboratory Help Page

This page is designed to provide helpful information about the laboratory questions. You will find more details in the Laboratory manual that accompanies this course. Begin this lab and every lab by introducing yourself to your partner. Determine the times when you can meet together during the week before the lab is due at your next Lab session.

You should start this lab and each lab by typing the name of each team member and your group number on the Cover Page (or a copy of it). For general rules of what is expected in the Lab, read the Laboratory Guidelines. The Lab Manual that accompanies this course (available at the bookstore) has many detailed worked examples from the labs for this course, so gives you additional resources for how to handle the computer software that we will be using.

Your Computer Lab contains two parts: 1. WeBWorKquestions answered individually (~60%). 2. A written report with graphs from one student's lab and well-written paragraphs from questions given in WeBWorK (~40%). The WeBWorK format for these Computer Labs should reduce the paperwork that you turn in. This WeBWorK Lab has four questions. The first problem asks questions about this help page and should help you work through the Lab more smoothly. The other problems are the main Lab questions. You answer many of the questions directly into your WeBWorK Lab individually. You will notice that several parts of the questions start with the phrase "In your lab report." For these parts of the questions you and your partner will need to create the appropriate graphs in Excel and write the appropriate sentences and paragraphs to insert into a Word document that you will turn in. Details on what is expected for your graphs can be found in the Laboratory Guidelines.

Question 1: You follow the directions in the lab and according to the Lab guidelines to create a good graph of the two intersecting lines. This problem begins by having you generate the graphs of two lines. In the top row you insert labels x, y1, and y2 for the x values and the two lines. In the first column below x, you insert the integers from -10 to 10. Next you name the x variable by highlighting the first column, going to Insert on the Main menu, followed by Name, then Create. Excel will prompt you for the correct response. In Columns B and C starting with B2 and C2, you type in your equations for the lines, typing " = m*x + b" where m is the slope of your line and b is the y-intercept. Next you pull down the equation to get the points on your lines.

After you have these data entries for the lines, you highlight the three columns and invoke Chart Wizard. You will always be selecting the XY (Scatter) option, and in this case use the line sub-Chart. Follow the directions to add Titles, Axis labels, and Gridlines. Select the option to not have a Legend for this graph.

Having created the graph of the two lines, we use a number of features to refine the way the graph looks. These techniques are in the Lab manual and will be demonstrated in class. You may want to follow the directions in the Sample Lab or in the special Excel Help section.

In the second part of this question, you'll need to open Microsoft Equation 3.0 (or Equation Editor) in Word (after solving the problem on scratch paper). Some instructions to help you with this are given in the Word help section (simply go to the Insert...Object...Microsoft Equation 3.0 from the menu bar)..

Question 2: This problem introduces you to using the Graphing template that is provided. Details of using the Graphing template will be covered in Lab and are detailed on the special help page. This time you create the graph in Excel, then repeat the procedure from Question 1 to obtain a good looking graph.

Question 3: You and your partner will want to have a good watch and cooperate on collecting the data on the number of chirps by each of the crickets that are listed in the WeBWorK problem. It is recommended that you bring earphones to hear only your crickets. Use the models from the lecture notes to obtain the appropriate temperatures. For the graph, you can once again use the graphing template for drawing the models from their formulae (or any other way you may have learned to draw straight lines in Excel). Next you enter your data on the spreadsheet and use the Add Data part under the Chart Options to place this on the graph. After you click on Add Data, you will have a new window. You highlight the data you want to add, then check the "Catergories (X Values) in First Column" and "OK." You will need to change these data from lines to points. This is done by double clicking on the data points. A window pops up and you specify Line (None) and Marker (Automatic). Most of the calculations can be done either by hand or on the Excel spreadsheet. Once you have decided the layout of the table that you want, then in the Word document for your Lab, you go to the Table menu in Word and follow the directions to create the desired table. There are plenty of options for making it look good. You should certainly have labels and at least borders to delineated your information. At all stages of the development of your lab, you should practice writing good, clear sentences (including spelling, with which Word should help you).