1. Do these exercises and time how long it takes to complete the exercise

Do each :

a) Manually without the calculator

 b) With the calculator

 c) With Excel

Then compare accuracy. State which of the three mode of computation is more accurate. Upload

the excel file into this dropbox.

Manually (took me 1 minute 45 seconds to answer the 3 questions):

6-4/2*3 = 2/6 = 6 – 2*3 = 6 – 6 = 0

3*6-(2+4) = 18-6 = 12

58.6 – 29.9 = 28.7

 

With calculator (took me 30 seconds to answer the 3 questions):

6-4/2*3 = 0

3*6-(2+4) = 12

58.6 – 29.9 = 28.7

 

Excel (took me 20 seconds to answer the 3 questions):

6-4/2*3 = 0

3*6-(2+4) = 12

58.6 – 29.9 = 28.7

 

2. List the Mathematic keys to use in excel and state the operation (meaning)

 

I simply copied the formulas directly with an = at the beginning. The mathematical keys in Excel are similar to the keys of my calculator, for example, + is to add, - is used to subtract. But 2 of them change since / is used instead of ÷ for division and * is used instead of x for multiplication.

=6-4/2*3

=3*6-(2+4)

=58.6-29.9

3. What features make a computer more powerful than a simple calculator? Hint: you can research this online

I was able to solve the problems in Excel faster because I simply copied the formulas directly. I used copy paste and the only thing I had to add was an equal sign at the beginning. The last question took a couple of seconds longer since I deleted the 2 empty spaces before and after the minus sign. The advantage of Excel over a normal calculator is that it can process larger amounts of data inputs faster. You can also input more data simply by selecting cells or using functions. There are over 450 functions in Excel (Sharma, 2021) that make it much simpler to input data and they require less steps than using a calculator. For example, if you have 100 different numbers and you want to calculate the mean, you just use the average function (=AVERAGE) and select the 100 cells containing the numbers.

Basically, a calculator is a small and not very powerful computer that can solve certain mathematical functions. Excel has the advantage of using much more resources (gigabytes of ram) and being able to process data much faster. It also manages up to 15 digits, while most calculators can handle only 10-12 digits. Excel is a much better tool when you have to handle large amounts of data since it can store them in cells and there is no need to erase them.