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DISCLAIMER
Unfortunately Microsoft like to move all the buttons around on excel every time they make a new
version so these instructions may now be 100% correct for all of you. However, in the last few versions
things havent changed too drastically so with a bit of common sense you should easily be able to apply
these instructions. (This also applies to Mac users, your version of excel is slightly different but its close
enough that these instructions are still applicable)
Repeat 2
Repeat 3
Start Height
- H1 (cm)
PROCESSED DATA
Height of
H1
First Bounce
Uncertainty
- H2 (cm)
(cm)
H2
Uncertainty
(cm)
20
16.8
15.9
16.3
20
16.3
30
22.1
24.2
23.9
30
23.4
40
31.2
34.7
33.1
40
33.0
50
41.2
39.8
42.3
50
41.1
60
45.7
47.8
47.4
60
47.0
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10. From this window, give your data series an appropriate name. We will now select the data we
want to use.
11. It is important you know which variable is your independent variable (goes on x-axis) and which
is your dependent variable (goes on y-axis).
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12. To select your x values click the button circled in green then in your data sheet select your
desired x values. To select multiple values click and hold the value at the top of a column and
drag down so all the values are highlighted.
13. Similarly, to select your y values click the button circled in red then in your data sheet select
your desired y values.
14. Click Ok and you should be returned to your data page, except now your graph should have
some points on it. It should look something like the image below. (Obviously location and scale
of data will be different depending on your experiment).
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
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Adding a Trendline
1. As a general rule we always add a trendline as it helps us to interpret any patters in the data.
2. To insert a trend line, right click on one of the data points and select the option Add Trend line
3. This will bring up a menu that looks like the image below. On newer versions of excel it will not
be a pop-up box, but will be a menu that appears on one side of the screen, but all the content
is the same as this image.
4. The first thing to do is select the type of trendline; usually we will be using a linear trendline.
5. The next important thing is in the Forecast Section (circled in blue). When your trendline is
created it will only extend as far as the data points go, but frequently we may want to extend
the trendline to see where it intercepts the axis. If you want to extend the line in the negative-x
direction, type in the Backward box. To extend the line in the positive-x direction enter in the
Forward box.
6. The final thing we need to do is select the box circled in red, this will display an equation for the
line of best fit on the graph. This may be useful if our result is in some way related to the
gradient or intercept of the line.
7. There are some other options in this menu to change the style or colour of the line, but theyre
pretty easy for you to figure out on your own.
8. By this stage your graph will look something like the image below.
Coefficient of Restitution
Height of First Bounce - H2 (cm)
60.0
y = 0.837x - 0.5933
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-20
0
-10.0
20
40
60
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80
12/3/2014
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Coefficient of Restitution
y = 0.837x - 0.5933
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-10
0
-10.0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
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MIN
x
MAX
y
20
60
x
22
43
y
20
60
10
55
8. We now need to add this data series, this is exactly the same process as when we added the first
data series. Right-click on the graph and choose Select Data, this brings up a familiar menu and
from here we can add the two new data series.
9. If youre unsure how to do this go back and follow the same procedure we used when we
inputted the initial data. Once you have inputted the new data you should have something that
looks like the graph below on the left.
10. See how we have four new points (two for each data series); we now want to add a trendline to
each of these new data series. This is exactly the same procedure as you have done already so
Im not going to explain it again, if unsure read through the Adding a Trendline section again.
11. Once you have added your trend lines your graph should look something like the one below on
the right.
12. Now we have the trend lines we can see that our lines dont quite pass through all the error
bars, therefore we will have to slightly edit the values in our Max/Min chart. You DO NOT have
to remove the trendline and plot it all over again, if you change the values in the data sheet the
trendline will auto update.
13. Once you are happy with the position of the lines, you can extend them so they intercept the
axis. You also want to display the equation of the Min and Max lines on your graph as you may
need to later use these in your analysis.
14. The result should look like the graph on the following page.
Coefficient of Restitution
Coefficient of Restitution
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-10 0
-10.0
y = 0.837x - 0.5933
y = 0.837x - 0.5933
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-10
0
-10.0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
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Coefficient of Restitution
60.0
y = 1.075x - 10.5
50.0
y = 0.837x - 0.5933
y = 0.65x + 7
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-10
0
-10.0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Final Formatting
1. Congratulations for getting this far, you now have everything you need to assess the results of
your experiment, these final few tips will just help make your graph look nicer. Im not going to
go through all the steps in detail as by now you are an excel master.
2. Remove the Max and Min data points so that just the lines are displayed.
3. Alter the equations so that we dont have an excessive number of decimal places.
4. Colour coordinate the various lines so we can distinguish one from another
5. The finished product is shown below.
Coefficient of Restitution
y = 1.1x - 10.5
60.0
y = 0.8x - 0.6
50.0
y = 0.7x + 7.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
-10
0
-10.0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
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