Posts Tagged ‘number crunching’
May 22nd, 2009 | 
Author: As a Microsoft Office software instructor for fifteen years, I am sometimes asked whether to use Access or Excel to keep track of database information and calculate summaries, subtotals or complex formulas and functions with the data. The fact is that Excel, which is probably best known for its number crunching capabilities, has robust database functionality. Access, which is indeed a database program, can perform many of the complex math formulas and functions that Excel is known for. So which should you use?
Like many people who use the Microsoft Office Suite, you probably have found Excel to not only be a good tool for spreadsheet features and “number crunching”, but also for keeping track of lists of data. It is quite often one of the first Microsoft Office Suite applications users learn. Many people use and understand it to varying degrees. This makes it advantageous for sharing your data, since others commonly use Excel.
Perhaps you have an employee list, record of invoices, or names and addresses of customers, friends and family in one or more Excel workbooks. Entering your records into an Excel worksheet is fairly straightforward, as is adding column or field headings. You might have found the powerful sorting and filtering functionality, or even the extraordinary pivot table feature. In my experience, these have made Excel an excellent choice for many of the typical database requirements most users have.
Excel’s advantage is its universal usage, comparative ease of use and quick solutions for simple databases. However, there are some limitations. The number of records in your database is limited to the number of rows in a worksheet. In the versions prior to Excel 2007, 65,536 rows was the limit on each sheet. Excel 2007 now allows 1,048,576 rows per worksheet. The other major limitation is that by its nature, data stored in a worksheet is a “flat” file which means all of the data is in one list. The result is that each record in your worksheet could have redundant data, such as customer name, address etc. repeated many times on a invoice list.
If you have more complex requirements for your database, Access is a great choice. Although Access is not as easy for some people to learn on their own, it was designed to be both powerful and user friendly. This means that with some research and/or training, you can be on your way to creating a very powerful database. Access’s main advantage over Excel is that it is a relational database. Meaning it has the capability to store data in more than one table and relate or link the tables on common fields. This eliminates the redundancy of a “flat” file and makes entering information easy, with data entry forms using features which eliminate or reduce typing and ensure valid data is entered. Calculations and subtotals are available in the queries that access the data, in data entry forms and printed reports.
Once you are comfortable with both applications, then the choice will be easier to make. If you are most comfortable with Excel, and it meets your needs, remember that all of the data you enter can be imported into Access later, should the need arise. Conversely, Access has a very simple feature to export its data to Excel. One last thing to keep in mind – there is no rule preventing you from using both applications, if you are at ease doing so. As an Access database designer, I have created databases that use the efficient data storage of a Access’s relational database capability, and added programmed automation to export portions of the data to Excel. The allowed others to use Excel’s powerful spreadsheet analysis capabilities on the data originally entered into Access.
William Gee is the Director of Training at Training Connection, a leading provider of Excel and Access training in Chicago and Los Angeles.
For more detail of our classes please visit http://www.trainingconnection.com
Article Source: Access vs. Excel – Which should I use for my database?
So you bought your brand new laptop which is equipped with all the latest features like Bluetooth, Wi-if, etc. That’s great! The configuration serves you more than what you need and above all the laptop looks so cute. The size of the laptop makes it so handy, the keypad comes in your favorite color and everything looks so nice. You started working on your laptop and Gosh! There is a power-cut. But your laptop keeps on working by automatically switching itself to the plugged-in battery resource. You are happy. However, you want to check whether the battery is full or not by pointing your cursor to the battery icon. It is showing 99%. Good! But what you need to do to keep your battery showing the same storage levels even after two years? Read further to know the solution.
Lithium-ion Battery
Most of the laptops now a day are equipped with Lithium-ion batteries. Though there are Nickel-cadmium, Nickel metal hydride, etc, after the invention of Lithium-ion battery, because of its efficiency most of the laptop manufacturers are selling it along with their respective laptops.
Why Lithium-ion battery? Because it provides high energy density, runtime, and is light in weight. To run a power-sucking laptop, a battery with high energy density is required. The runtime of a laptop battery is based on what sort of applications you run. If you run basic applications for writing, reading, copying, chatting, etc, then your laptop battery runtime will be high compared to running a complex application that has a huge number crunching requirement.
The Problem
The problem with the laptop battery arises when you start using your laptop as a Desktop Replacement. In other words, regularly using the laptop for extended hours (say 10/12 hours) on AC power along with the battery plugged-in. If you are using alternatively both the AC power and battery for long hours regularly, then there are so many chances that your battery life will go down. It is not because of your alternative usage with AC power, but by the heat that gets generated by your laptop during its operation. The life of a battery is more dependent on the temperature rather than its regular charging and discharging functions.
On an average, a laptop battery (genuine!) will provide service for 1-1.5 years even if you use it roughly without taking any precautionary measures. You can extend your battery’s life by more than 2 years if you follow the following said measures.
Precautionary Measures
The only solution to extend your laptop battery’s precious lifetime is to use it only when you are in need of it. Means, if you have AC power available for your power requirements and you are using laptop as your Desktop Replacement, then remove the battery from your laptop after charging it moderately (40%), wrap it in a plastic cover, and store it in a cool place. After every 3 weeks, religiously, plug-in your battery into your laptop and charge it for sometime before you switch from your AC power to your battery. For the next few hours, allow you laptop to suck power from your battery until it gets drained of all its stored power and shuts down you laptop. Then, plug-in the AC power into your laptop, start charging your battery up to a moderate level (say 40%), switch off your laptop to remove the battery and store it in a cool place after wrapping it in a plastic cover. You need to do this religiously for every 3 weeks in order to extend your laptop battery’s life considerably by 2 more years.
Summary
In summary, a laptop battery is so costly and its life so precious that we cannot ignore the precautionary measures which makes it possible to extend its lifetime by 2 more years. That means, by following the above said measures, you can use your laptop battery for about 3 years on an average. Good Luck!
Gadget Guru What is Wireless Technology
Article Source: How to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life?
Spin Magic : Roulette Bot is currently a very popular robot to play roulette.
It is a very convenient way to play without overloading your mind with number crunching; the program will do it for you. There are currently no analogues to it , with all the programs of this kind the player has to manually enter the results of the game, and pay to use this version of the robot! We offer a program that is absolutely free , and that will enter all the results and calculate the strategy on its own , leaving to you the only job – to decide how much you are willing to bet!
Features of the program:
- absolutely free;
- supports several casinos;
- fully automated game, the only manual part is determining the amount of the bet;
- game embedded strategy: the strategy according to which the program works is very simple yet efficient , it is called expectation of the sequence, the program spins the roulette so that it runs free and calculates how many times in a row the ball landed in a black or red pocket; if the number coincides with that specified, the program stops and emits beeping noise. You can define this signal in the settings;
- free assistance is also provided.
Recognition of numbers on the roulette wheel, over 5 supported casinos, absolutely free to use. Detailed illustrated guide + free assistance!
The player always has the same manner of the game , the only difference is the position of the spin button and the output of the roulette ( output – when the result is issued ).
1. Select the casino in which you want to play from the banners on the right.
2. Download the casino software.
3. After installing the casino register an account to play.
4. Launch Roulette Checker and the casino.
5. Play.
Alex Zerg http://roulette-systems.biz/
Article Source: Spin Magic: Automatic bot to play roulette!