”GHEORGHE ASACHI” TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF IAȘI

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services

Civil Engineering – Bachelor Program, English teaching, first year

LABORATORY WORK 2
Spreadsheet Editors (Excel 2007)

by Prof. Fideliu Păuleț-Crăiniceanu

Iași, December 2010

PART I. Excel simple spreadsheet examples

I. Students’ scholar data and classification

I.1. Problem to be solved

For the next list of study topics and for the next group of students obtain: simple average of
marks per student; credit weighted average per student; scholarships calculation per student;
“passed” or “failed” state of each student.
Crt.No. Students’ name
Crt.No. Topic’s name No. of credits 1 Popescu Emilia
1 Use of Computers 3 2 Lungu Miron
2 Construction Materials 3 3 Niculescu Niculina
3 Theoretical Mechanics 4 4 Diaconescu Mitica
4 English 2 5 Stamate Dan
5 Sports 2 6 John Smith
6 Algebra 4 7 Filimon Nicolae
8 Ionescu Vasile
9 Marin Andreea
10 Badea Mircea
Condition to get scholarship, SCH, as a function of weighted average, Wa:
SCH
Condition
(RON)
Wa <7 0
7≤ Wa <8 300
8≤ Wa <9 400
9≤ Wa <9,5 450
9,5≤ Wa 500

Observations: Marks obtained by students will be chosen such that all the scholarships
condition to be covered and the states “passed” or “non-passed” to be also put into action.

I.2. Problem solver

Input data: topic’s name, number of credits/topic, students’ name, conditions for scholarships.
Output data: a table (spreadsheet) containing the input data and the required simple average of
marks per student; credit weighted average per student; scholarships calculation per student;
“passed” or “failed” state of each student.
Analysis:
- all data is written in a table as that in Figure 1.
- the average of the grades obtained by each student is calculated using AVERAGE function.
- weighted average is calculated for each student using the formula shown in Figure 1 (the
sum of products between the number of credits and the corresponding mark over the total of all
credits). In order to spread the weighted average formula the line (and column) of each cell
containing the number of credits must be fixed (i.e. the $ sign should precede the column name and
line number of that cell).
- To obtain the value of scholarships, multiple nested IF functions are used.
 - “Passed” status of each student is obtained based on requirement that each of marks is
greater or equal to 5. Otherwise the “failed” status is assigned.

I.3. Solver’s spreadsheet

The spreadsheet solving the problem is shown by Figure 1.

II. Monthly costs per site and per materials

II.1. Problem to be solved

For the next sites and construction materials obtain: costs per site; quantities per materials;
costs per material. Verify that the total of costs per site is equal to total of costs per materials. Make
also three different type graphs derived from the table used for solving the problem.
Crt.No. Site’s name
1 Apartment building in Copu
2 Water tower in Miroslava
3 Office building in Plopeni
4 Department store in Bucium
5 Road in Movileni
6 Bridge in Hogeasca
7 Agricultural hall in Horlesti
8 Industrial hall in Bularga
9 Cinema hall in Julius Mall
10 Underground garage in Palace DC
Materials and their unit price:
Crt.No. Material’s name Unit Unit price (RON)
1 Cement tones 1890.00
2 Water cubic meters 1.53
3 Sand cubic meters 154.00
4 Aggregate tones 231.00
5 Bricks GO pieces 1.60
6 Bricks GV pieces 1.72
7 Steel OB 52 tones 3523.00
8 Steel PC 60 tones 5764.00
Observations: The quantities will be arbitrary chosen.

II.2. Problem solver

Input data: sites’ names, materials’ names, units for materials, unit price for each material.
Output data: a table (spreadsheet) containing the input data and the required cost per site on
each line (site) and containing the total cost for each material on each column. Also, the verification
of total costs is shown (calculus on two directions has identical result).
Analysis:
- all data is written in a table as that in Figure 2.
- cost (of materials) per site is calculated site using the formula shown in Figure 2 (the sum of
products between the quantity of material and the corresponding unit price). In order to spread the
formula the line (and column) of each cell containing the unit price must be fixed (i.e. the $ sign
should precede the column name and line number of that cell).
- on the lines under the table the total consumption for each material is calculated using SUM
function. Then, the next line is calculating (for each material) the product between the quantity of
material and the unit price (i.e. the total cost for each material).
- verification is performed: the vertical sum of the costs on the last column must be equal to
the horizontal sum of the costs on the last line.

II.3. Solver’s spreadsheet

The spreadsheet solving the problem is shown by Figure 2. Also Figure 3 (a,b,c) shows three
graphical representations of data in the Figure 2.
PART II. Numerical and graphical examples

I. Numerical and graphical representation of a function

I.1. Problem to be solved

Tabulate the next real function:

for with the step . Variables are real given numbers. It is

supposed that and .

I.2. Problem solver

Input data:
Output data: couples of values . The first value of is . Next is , then
and so on until takes a value close to (and less than) or equal to . More accurate, the last
value will be a value in the interval .
Analysis: For each the function is defined on four branches. In order to obtain the real
function , there are next conditions to be satisfied:
Branch 1: ; ;
Branch 2: ;
Branch 3:

I.3. Solver’s spreadsheet

A table with two columns is generated: and . The table is generated for a set of values:
.
Then, a graphic representation of as a function of is performed, as seen in Figure 4. In this
example the conditions shown in Problem solver paragraph are neglected due to the fact that Excel
is issuing error #NUM! in the case that the function cannot be calculated.
The graphic showing the function is also presented in Figure 4. The values where the errors
#NUM! are treated as zeros in that graphic. In Matlab section the same function for the same set of
values can be seen together with an identical graphic result.
II. Simple supported loaded beam

II.1. Problem to be solved

The beam from the next figure is loaded as shown. Calculate and draw the shear forces and
bending moment diagrams.
y q (N/m) P (N)
A B x
C D E
VA a b c d VB
l

As an actual case, take the next numerical data:

q  20kNm, P  80kN, l  12m, a  2m, b  4m, c  3m .

II.2. Problem solver

Input data:
Output data: triplets of values and linear graphical representations for and
. A step for , , must be established (for example the total length of the beam over 200).
The first value of is . Next is , then and so on until takes the value .
Analysis:
Formulae to calculate the reaction forces are (from Strength of Materials):
qb  b  d
VA   cd P
l 2  l
qb  b  P
VB    a   a  b  c 
l 2  l
Formulae to calculate the shear forces are (from Strength of Materials):
x  0, a , Q(x)  VA
x  a, a  b, Q(x)  VA  qx  a 
x  a  b, a  b  c , Q(x)  VA  qb
x  a  b  c, l , Q(x)  VA  qb  P
Formulae to calculate the bending moments are (from Strength of Materials):
x  0, a , M (x)  VA x

x  a, a  b, M (x)  VA xq

 x  a
2

2
 b
x  a  b, a  b  c , M (x)  VA x  qb x  a  
 2
 b
x  a  b  c, l , M (x)  VA x  qb x  a    Px  a  b  c 
 2
II.3. Solver’s spreadsheet
A table with three columns is generated: . The table is generated for the given set of
values: q  20kNm, P  80kN, l  12m, a  2m, b  4m, c  3m . Also the step of the
numerical and graphical representations is established as the total length of the beam over 200, i.e.
0.05m in this case.
In the table, shown in Figure 5, was denoted as , was denoted as , was denoted as
, was denoted as , was denoted as , was denoted as , was denoted as , was
denoted as , and the reaction forces: and . The reasons to use double letters in notations
was to avoid forbidden notations (as and ).
In Figure 5, the shear forces and bending moments diagrams of the given loaded beam are
presented, too. Note that the bending moments were represented with a change of sign (minus in
front of formulae) due to the custom convention for representation on the tensed part of the beam.
 PART I. Excel simple spreadsheet examples

I.1 Students’ scholar data and classification

Figure 1. Excel simple spreadsheet example. Students’ scholar data and classification
 PART I. Excel simple spreadsheet examples

I.2. Monthly costs per site and per materials

Figure 2. Excel two-directional calculus example. Monthly costs per site and per materials
 PART I. Excel simple spreadsheet examples

1000
Cost per site

Thousands
900
800 Total cost per material
700
143602.34
109715.68 154805.51
Apartment building in
Copu 600 November 2010

RON
101548.65 64555.14 500
Water tower in
132391.28 400
Miroslava
107753.13 300
Office building in Plopeni
121110.59 200
704739.14 100
163425.60 Department store in
Bucium 0

Road in Movileni

QUANTITIES FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2010

7000.00

6000.00
Apartment building in Copu
5000.00 Water tower in Miroslava
consumption

4000.00 Office building in Plopeni

3000.00 Department store in Bucium
2000.00 Road in Movileni
1000.00 Cinema hall in Julius Mall Bridge in Hogeasca
Agricultural hall in Horlesti
0.00
Agricultural hall in Horlesti
Road in Movileni
Office building in Plopeni Industrial hall in Bularga
Apartment building in Copu Cinema hall in Julius Mall
Underground garage in Palace DC

Figure 3 a,b,c. Monthly costs per site and per materials. Graphical representations.
PART II. Numerical and graphical examples

II.1 Numerical and graphical representation of a function

Figure 4. Example for tabulating a function

PART II. Numerical and graphical examples

II. Simple supported loaded beam

Figure 5. Numerical and graphical representation of shear forces and bending moments for a simple supported beam