[comp.windows.ms] Excel:1. Regression? 2.Memory? 3. DesqView?

jansson@uwovax.uwo.ca (12/05/90)

I am trying to estimate a regression equation using Excel.  According to
the manual I should use the function LINEST and given the data arrays
Excel should compute the slopes and the intercept for me.  The problem is
that the only output I get is one of the slopes.  I would like to get all
the information for the equation.  How do I go about getting it?
My second problem is not related to the above (I hope).  I Use Excel in a
Desqview window (under run-time? windows).  Excel does not want to load
if I have WordPerfect running in another Desqview window.  The reverse works.
Third, Excel occasionally goes cracy on me.  Sometimes the screen goes weird
such that I can see "rolling" patterns on it but my input does not have any
effect on the screen.  I can get out of this via ctrl-alt-esc (and frequent
saves).  Sometimes my machine hangs and only the red button gets me going.
I use a 386 (4mb) with a paradise+ card and a 800*600 driver on a NEC GS2a.

Any help with all or some of the above would be appreciated.

Mikael
_______
Mikael Jansson, Dpt. of Soc., U. of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada;
JANSSON@UWO.CA;@UWOVAX.BITNET ;Heard on CBC: PC's = Very expensive erasers.

reeves@dvinci (Malcolm Reeves) (12/09/90)

From article <7973.275c1a76@uwovax.uwo.ca>, by jansson@uwovax.uwo.ca:
> I am trying to estimate a regression equation using Excel.  According to
> the manual I should use the function LINEST and given the data arrays
> Excel should compute the slopes and the intercept for me.  The problem is
> that the only output I get is one of the slopes.  I would like to get all
> the information for the equation.  How do I go about getting it?

You've just discovered the problems associated with using "canned" software.
It's easy to compute a least-squares regression using the arithmetic in a
spreadsheet (I don't know excel but I can do it in Lotus, Supercalc, Quattro
etc) then you can recover the full equation and standard errors of estimate
for the coefficients. Another problem is that spreadsheets do not check if
the data is suitable for linear least squares regression nor do they provide
other norms or non-parametric alternatives when the point distribution is
obviously not "normal".

This may not help much but the spreadsheet arithmetic for least-squares
regression is easy and you can have any information you need if you do it
yourself :-)

  

marwk@levels.sait.edu.au (12/11/90)

In article <1990Dec8.171008.5429@herald.usask.ca>, reeves@dvinci (Malcolm Reeves) writes:
> From article <7973.275c1a76@uwovax.uwo.ca>, by jansson@uwovax.uwo.ca:
>> I am trying to estimate a regression equation using Excel.  According to
>> the manual I should use the function LINEST and given the data arrays
>> Excel should compute the slopes and the intercept for me.  The problem is
>> that the only output I get is one of the slopes.  I would like to get all
>> the information for the equation.  How do I go about getting it?
>
> You've just discovered the problems associated with using "canned" software.
> It's easy to compute a least-squares regression using the arithmetic in a
> spreadsheet (I don't know excel but I can do it in Lotus, Supercalc, Quattro
> etc) then you can recover the full equation and standard errors of estimate
> for the coefficients. Another problem is that spreadsheets do not check if
> the data is suitable for linear least squares regression nor do they provide
> other norms or non-parametric alternatives when the point distribution is
> obviously not "normal".
>
> This may not help much but the spreadsheet arithmetic for least-squares
> regression is easy and you can have any information you need if you do it
> yourself :-)
>
>
You must highlight 2 adjacent cell and place the LINEST function in the left
cell - simple as that.

Ray

marwk@levels.sait.edu.au (12/11/90)

>>
> You must highlight 2 adjacent cell and place the LINEST function in the left
> cell - simple as that.
>
> Ray

Things are rarely as simple as they seem!

You must also use CTRL SHIFT ENTER rather than just ENTER after typing the
formula into the left of the 2 highlighted cells.

Ray

boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) (12/16/90)

jansson@uwovax.uwo.ca writes:

>I am trying to estimate a regression equation using Excel.  According to
>the manual I should use the function LINEST and given the data arrays
>Excel should compute the slopes and the intercept for me.  The problem is
>that the only output I get is one of the slopes.  I would like to get all
>the information for the equation.  How do I go about getting it?

LINEST returns a horizontal array of two parameters, the first of which
is the slope and the second - the intercept.  You may access each by
using the INDEX function, so that the slope becomes =INDEX(LINEST(range),1)
and the intercept =INDEX(LINEST(range),2).