OpenOffice Calc Tips for the STA201 Project
STA201 students can download a sample
OpenOffice
Calc document, containing the appropriate
data, frequency tables, relative frequency tables, and relative frequency
histograms, by clicking here.
You can read more for a few tips on how to generate the frequency tables and histograms, using OpenOffice's Calc spreadsheet application.
You can read more for a few tips on how to generate the frequency tables and histograms, using OpenOffice's Calc spreadsheet application.
Fist, let me just indicate that the tricky part
in making the frequency table is in specifying the classes, using the
Function
Wizard.
Here's the Function Wizard window, with the Classes field selected.
Pressing the icon just the right of that field allows you to select the classes with the mouse. The classes consist of the digits 1, 2, 3, ..., 9, which reside in cells D2:D10. For some reason, you need to select up the the next to last cell, only. That is, you must select D2:D9, as shown below. If you select all the cells D2:D10, you'll still obtain the correct frequency distribution, but you wind up with an extra row at the bottom of the frequency column with a zero in it. I think MS EXCEL does this, too. I like to save that cell for a subsequent computation of the total (sum of all frequencies). If you compute frequencies using the FREQUENCY function, that bottom (extraneous) cell will become part of a cell-array (housing the frequencies), which evidently cannot be modified. Perhaps there's a way to modify a cell-array, but I only recently started playing with OpenOffice and I don't know it very well yet.
In the next figure, the frequencies have been computed, and OpenOffice is being instructed to sum the frequencies. That sum will be needed to compute the relative frequencies.
Next, compute the relative frequencies.
Next, to make a relative frequency histogram, select both the classes (all of them this time) together with the corresponding relative frequencies, as shown below.
Next, click on the Insert Chart icon,
and with
your mouse, select an area of the
Calc
spreadsheet document where you want to place the histogram. (Don't be too
picky, because you can always move it
later.)
When you release the mouse button, a window will appear in which you must select various characteristics of your histogram.
Click on the Create button to generate the histogram.
To edit the histogram's characteristics (i.e., the object properties), double-click on the histogram to select it, as shown.
Then, right-click on the histogram with your mouse to select Object Properties... from the resulting contextual menu to open the Data Series window.
In the data series window, you can set the spacing to 0%, as shown above. That will produce a histogram without gaps between bars, as shown below.
To generate a histogram with both sets of data, Street Addresses and NASDAQ prices, select the classes, and both sets of relative frequencies, as shown below.
Next, press the Insert Chart icon, and proceed as before. The only real difference this time is that a legend would be useful because there are two sets of data, represented in the same window. The text that is used to distinguish the two data sets refers only to the cells that house the respective data sets. I couldn't find a way to edit that text to make it clear what each histogram represents. There must be a way to do that within OpenOffice's Calc, but I just didn't have the time to look for it.
Here's the Function Wizard window, with the Classes field selected.
Pressing the icon just the right of that field allows you to select the classes with the mouse. The classes consist of the digits 1, 2, 3, ..., 9, which reside in cells D2:D10. For some reason, you need to select up the the next to last cell, only. That is, you must select D2:D9, as shown below. If you select all the cells D2:D10, you'll still obtain the correct frequency distribution, but you wind up with an extra row at the bottom of the frequency column with a zero in it. I think MS EXCEL does this, too. I like to save that cell for a subsequent computation of the total (sum of all frequencies). If you compute frequencies using the FREQUENCY function, that bottom (extraneous) cell will become part of a cell-array (housing the frequencies), which evidently cannot be modified. Perhaps there's a way to modify a cell-array, but I only recently started playing with OpenOffice and I don't know it very well yet.
In the next figure, the frequencies have been computed, and OpenOffice is being instructed to sum the frequencies. That sum will be needed to compute the relative frequencies.
Next, compute the relative frequencies.
Next, to make a relative frequency histogram, select both the classes (all of them this time) together with the corresponding relative frequencies, as shown below.
Next, click on the Insert Chart icon,
and with
your mouse, select an area of the
Calc
spreadsheet document where you want to place the histogram. (Don't be too
picky, because you can always move it
later.)When you release the mouse button, a window will appear in which you must select various characteristics of your histogram.
Click on the Create button to generate the histogram.
To edit the histogram's characteristics (i.e., the object properties), double-click on the histogram to select it, as shown.
Then, right-click on the histogram with your mouse to select Object Properties... from the resulting contextual menu to open the Data Series window.
In the data series window, you can set the spacing to 0%, as shown above. That will produce a histogram without gaps between bars, as shown below.
To generate a histogram with both sets of data, Street Addresses and NASDAQ prices, select the classes, and both sets of relative frequencies, as shown below.
Next, press the Insert Chart icon, and proceed as before. The only real difference this time is that a legend would be useful because there are two sets of data, represented in the same window. The text that is used to distinguish the two data sets refers only to the cells that house the respective data sets. I couldn't find a way to edit that text to make it clear what each histogram represents. There must be a way to do that within OpenOffice's Calc, but I just didn't have the time to look for it.
Posted: Sunday - November 19, 2006 at 07:56 AM
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Published On: May 23, 2008 09:10 AM
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