Spreadsheets are incredible time-savers in data analysis. Believe me, investing a little time to learn how to use it will yield a huge savings of time in the long run, both in Chem301 Lab and in other lab courses (as well as research). Any of the "big three" spreadsheets - Corel Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel - provide roughly equivalent funtionality. I will be demonstrating the capabilities of MS Excel, but you could do these tutorials with any of the others.

The best way to learn how to use your spreadsheet is to sit down and use it. There are very many third-party books out there (especially for Excel). These tend to be very large and hold your hand a little too much. Also, they often discuss features - in mind-numbing detail - that you are unlikely to use in your science classes.

I have placed a copy of Billo's Excel for Chemists on reserve in the library. This book is relatively short and focuses on tasks that are more important for scientists. You can check out the book for 4 hours and use it to practice on the computer. I would especially recommend the following chapters: 1-3, 11, 16.

In this tutorial, I demonstrate some of the following capabilities of Excel:

• a quick overview of doing calculations with Excel
• how to plot your data with Excel
• how to do first-order linear regression with Excel
• how to do polynomial regression with Excel