Vectorization

Question

Hi

I have a problem with graphs in Excel (2003). I have several matrices :

a b c d e f g h

i j k l m n o p

q r s t u v w x

I want to plot the vector z = (a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t), so I pick one row at a time in "series" under graphs using Ctrl, but when the number of rows reach a certain limit, Excel cannot include them all.

So instead I manually stack all rows after one another (like z) into a row vector in Excel. When the number of rows gets large, it takes time.

Do you know of a way to solve this problem of Excel stopping without first creating a vector (like z). If not, do you know of a way to make a (row) vector nonmanually (a VBA script perhaps) ?

Answer 1

For this kind of numerical task with a simple intent (plot a graph) and simply formatted data, you are better off using a plotting program like Gnuplot. Excel is designed for fewer values and more complex tasks, so you're running into its limitations.

Gnuplot in particular is scriptable, and can generate graphs from a script file, which will save effort if you're doing this more than once!