Engineering Problem Analysis with Microcomputer Spreadsheets

The use of microcomputers (personal computers) to solve Engineering related problems is a recent and rapidly growing phenomenon. A considerable amount of software by literally hundreds of vendors is available for purchase. The vendor software that is available is usually for the purpose of solving major engineering problems as opposed to the "single formula" problems that may require large amounts of data. However, these "single formula" problems can be very time consuming to solve, especially if the same formula is to be used repeatedly to calculate various reactions to varying data. For those engineers knowledgeable of computer programming, a simple solution is for them to write a program to find answers to their engineering problems. However, there are a considerable number of engineers who do not know, nor want to know, how to program a computer. For those individuals, a solution is to use microcomputer spreadsheets. No knowledge of formal programming is required, just the use of a microcomputer and the spreadsheet software. Spreadsheets can be conceptualized as a two dimensional mathematical matrix consisting of input data to a formula, and the relationships between the various data (the formula). Results can be in mathematical or graphical form. This paper provides an overview of microcomputer spreadsheets in general, and how these spreadsheets can be utilized to solve specific engineering related problems. Problem examples discussed are component reliability, component failure time distribution, and manufacturing interval estimation.