LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main objective of the course is to present the use of spreadsheets for making the most common techniques of data analysis. Particular emphasis will be given to those mathematical and statistical tools that students will have to apply during their course of study, especially in laboratory work.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

To use Excel to organize, manage data tables, matrices in order to extract from them the useful information for the purposes of the problem.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures and exercises that take place  in a computer room. During the lectures the teacher will address the theory while at the computer exercises each student can put into practice the knowledge acquired. During the exercises, each student is provided with the text of a problem (in a Word document) and related data in Excel. The problem is briefly described by the teacher and then the students have at their disposal at least an hour to try to solve it. Finally, the problem is carried out by the teacher and commented.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Excel worksheet: Definition of cells, rows and columns. Data entry. Cell formatting. Inserting / deleting rows and columns. Data manipulation. Order data. Standard  and automatic filter. Paste- Special function. Spreadsheet as a calculator. Definition of elementary operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) and combined (percentage difference, etc.). Mathematical functions (minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation) and other functions. Relative cell references, absolute, and mixed. Creating and customizing graphics. Using the help function.

Statistics section: Definition of random experiments. Population and sample. Statistical sample and its properties. Distribution of frequencies and probabilities. Calculation by Excel of statistical indices (mean, median, mode) and dispersion (variance, standard deviation, coeff. of variation). Construction of frequency histograms.