Mac Forum / Applications / Excel / February 2009

Because the add-in doesn't work in XL08 - the add-in used VBA, which has
been removed.

And yes, it sucks for some.

However, the *functions* included in the ATP (i.e., WEEKDAY(),
NETWORKDAY(), RANDBETWEEN(), etc.), have been incorporated into XL, so
the ATP is no longer necessary for them.

The wizards (such as Histograms, t-test, etc) would no longer work so
have been removed. But in all cases, built-in functions can accomplish
the same thing, many times with greater accuracy or data quality.

Can someone point me to instructions for how to use the functions which were
formerly incorporated into the Data Analysis Toolpak?  I bought Office 2008
with high hopes of getting the DAT, but now I have no idea how to do data
analysis for might MBA classes.

Thanks.

On 1/17/08 1:06 AM, in article
jemcgimpsey-113F50.23065516012008@news.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey"
<jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote:

Check out the RAND() function in XL08 Help.

The ATP Random Number Generator was an embarrassment. From the MS
Knowledge base article that is applicable to XL04:

     the ATP's separate random number generator is known to
     perform poorly on standard tests of randomness and to
     have a short repetition cycle.

     Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=829208

Better methods have been posted by David Braden, Harlan Grove, Jerry
Lewis, and Mike Middleton - you can search GoogleGroups to find them.

Take a look here:

  http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~nhunt/oatbran/

On 2/6/08 8:26 AM, in article ee88d6d.15@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "ken"

Yes, a lot of us are disappointed. Oatbran has been offered as a temporary
solution. As is evident from another post in this forum, Microsoft is
listening, and is very much aware of the pain this is causing. We¹ll just
have to wait to see if (and when) a solution is available.

Gnumeric's an excellent package. No Pivot Tables or conditional
formatting, and charting isn't quite as good, but as long as you can
compile your own version, it's a good option.

If you like the improvements in Word, PPT and Entourage, you can always
run XL04 with the 08 versions of the others.

Regression in XL08 can be done at least as well (if not quite as
conveniently) with the tools here:

  http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~nhunt/oatbran/

Solver's hopeless in 08 right now, but I'm hopeful that this can
eventually be solved by MacBU, though I don't have any specific reason
to think so.

On 2/25/08 2:29 PM, in article ee88d6d.22@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "MW" <MW>
wrote:

They are not. Voice your concern via send feedback on the help menu.

This isn't the place to add your voice. This is primarily a peer-to-peer
newsgroup.

Use Help/Send Feedback... instead

Note that the part of the Analysis Toolpak that didn't make it to XL08
was the wizards (e.g., the functions were incorporated into XL so no
add-in was needed). The wizards used XL functions (except the poorly
implemented Random Number Generator), so their results can be obtained
using those functions. See

  http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~nhunt/oatbran/

for some pre-made workbooks.

No, but they did eliminate VBA and therefore the ability to use the FFT
wizard in the Analysis Toolpak Add-in.

Since the wizards used XL functions (except for the poorly implemented
ATP random number generator), you can still calculate forward and
inverse Fourier transforms, but it means building tables and using the
now built-in matrix functions.

Probably too much of a PITA for most people, but it can be done, and
it's rather straight-forward, if tedious - there are examples you can
Google for...

Franz  -

In Mac Excel 2008, if I type =xirr( into a cell, I see XIRR(value,
dates,[guess]), showing me how to complete the arguments.

As far as I know, functions that were previously available with the Analysis
ToolPak add-in are now standard worksheet functions in Mac Excel 2008 (as
they are in Windows Excel 2007).

-  Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

Ryan  -

The array-entered worksheet function LINEST has been included in all
versions of Excel (at least since Excel 4).

LINEST can be used for multiple regression with up to sixteen explanatory
variables.

LINEST does not depend on the availability of the Analysis ToolPak add-in.

(The Regression tool wizard of the Analysis ToolPak used Excel's built-in
LINEST function for its computations.)

- Mike Middleton
<http://www.DecisionToolworks.com>
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

On 6/5/08 5:57 AM, in article ee88d6d.44@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "SH"
<sbh31@cam.ac.uk> wrote:

Customized error bars are back! Install Service Pack 1. Unfortunately the
Analysis tool Pack is still not available for Excel 2008.

Customized error bars were "brought back" in Service Pack 1. While it's
not quite as convenient as the ATP wizard, you can very easily create
histograms using the workbooks found at

  http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~nhunt/oatbran/ 

and

  http://home.comcast.net/~cgwcgw/excelstuff.html

Jim Emmet  -

XIRR and other functions that previously required the Analysis ToolPak are
now built-in worksheet functions in Windows Excel 2007 and Mac Excel 2008.

Since there is no VBA in Mac Excel 2008, there are no Analysis ToolPak
features that used VBA, e.g., the data analysis wizards. But the functions
that were used for calculation by the wizards are still in Mac Excel 2008.

It works fine for me, using the example in Mac Excel 2008 Help.

And, the Help describes three situations that yield the #NUM! error.

If you can't solve your problem using Help, you could post the specific
values you are using for the arguments: values, dates, guess.

-  Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

Hi Jim -

There are several reasons for the fx to return that error. Have you checked
Excel Help on XIRR - it covers the subject pretty well.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 6/29/08 9:57 PM, in article ee88d6d.48@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "Jim
Emmet" <jamesemmet@verizon.net> wrote:

Lyndsey  -

=STDEV(DataRange)/SQRT(COUNT(DataRange))

-  Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

What website?

I read these newsgroups with a newsreader (MT-Newswatcher) which
displays plain text (and therefore obviously no kerning problems).

There are numerous web portals that provide access to the newsgroups -
but which one you're using (and what style sheets they're using, and
what fonts you have installed, etc) will affect what you see.

Does the web site have a contact link for the webmaster?

Well, I'm accessing the Mactopia site (which I assume is the one you're
referring to) using Safari 3.1.2 with no problem of that nature. Rendering a
site isn't necessarily the fault of the site, either - it could be the fault
of the browser or a mix of other variables.

Also, the discussion groups appear to be well used to me, so apparently
there are many who are not having a problem. There are efforts under way to
make further improvements, but since you don't give any indication of what
the nature of your problem is it's impossible to offer any assistance.

Unfortunately your complaints are not only lacking in detail but have been
submitted as a Reply in a thread on a totally unrelated matter - add-ins for
Excel 2008. Nobody having anything to do with the design of the Mactopia
site is likely to ever see your message. If you have suggestions or
complaints about the site you'll find a link at the bottom of each page for
Website Feedback - use it for that purpose. Those who participate here are
simply users of the Mac Office software who offer assistance to one another
on the use of those products.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 8/8/08 4:26 PM, in article ee88d6d.54@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "" <>
wrote:

Why don't you like OatBran?

Anyway,  I recommend installing R.   You won't regret it.

teacher  -

You can use worksheet functions in simple formulas to obtain all of the
intermediate calculations: COUNT, AVERAGE, STDEV, SQRT, TINV, TDIST, etc.

For example, if the value of the hypothesized mean is in cell A1 and the
data is in a range "Data" on the worksheet, the t-statistic is
=(AVERAGE(Data)-A1)/(STDEV(Data)/SQRT(COUNT(Data)))

-  Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

Because it use VBA to work and MS ripped VBA out of the Mac version
because it would have delayed the roll out of Office for Mac By about
another two to three years or more.

So to get a product out they opted to leave it out. And then too the
decision was based on the belief that Mac users don't use Macros and VBA.

Unfortunately they didn't take into account nor even consider consulting
the College and University scene.

They didn't expect Colleges and Universities doing such complex stuff on
a Lowly program such as Excel