[University - Computers] Question about Open Office versus MS Office

[devonin]

So I'm in this computer science course to satisfy my last sciences requirement to graduate, and it seems to be centred primarily around MS Excel. Problem is, I use Open Office, and simply don't own a copy of the MS Office Suite at all.

The first project has already come up and I've already run into the first issue with incompatibility, namely =IF statements.

=IF(H9>60, "pass", "fail")

This seems to me to be the correct way to phrase it for MS Excel. It will compare the number in H9 to 60, if it is greater, print "pass" in the cell, if it is less, print "fail" in the cell.

If anyone happens to be familiar with Open Office, my trawling through its much less robust help system hasn't shown me what particular syntax it wants me to be using, so any assistance on that would be helpful. Thanks.

[Gelnika]

Its a command syntax malfunction in the programming code in open office. If you have a debugger than can crack it open for you, you can fix the issue. However the easiest thing i could tell you, is find small time computer store. A mom and pop type of store, and call them and find out if they have a copy of office that isn't the new 2008 version. *it is horrid compared to xp versions*

If you explain yourself well and that your doing it for school, you might get it greatly discounted, or even free. Oh and if they force you to buy it, buy xp for students. its only $100.


I know there are threads on this on the microsoft forums, but i'd seriously recommend finding a buddy with it. When you register it you have to call microsoft, say you changed computers and your done. All your office needs are taken care of.

[Squeek]

To add to what the above poster wrote:

Most universities have programs in place to give out software to students. They have an unlimited license on the software, so as long as you're a member of the university, you can download the software for free.

Our school has every Microsoft product imaginable free of charge. Visual Studio, Office, Vista, etc.

If the class is using Excel as the "language", so to speak, then even if you find out the syntax for OpenOffice, what good would it do you?

[devonin]

Because I want to be able to test the -function- of the function in a language that works to make sure I have everything -else- correct, in addition to being able to put it into the language that works when I go to submit work.

Like, I can only assume I've done my assignment correctly until I get a chance to load it up in MS Excel and see if it worked. I trust that the syntax is correct, but I do like the ability to see whether the rest of it is also correct.

Edit: The last school I was at had a similar downloading program but only for computer science majors/minors. The school I'm at is -way- too small to want to budget for providing those programs for free to students.

[Relambrien]

Alright, let me start by assuring you that the syntax is indeed correct for Excel. Though I wonder why you're using greater than as opposed to greater than or equal to. Is a 60 actually failing and 61 passing? Because at H9=60, that still prints "fail" in the cell.

I'll find some stuff out for open office and edit this once I've done so.

EDIT: Found it. Apparently, instead of the commas that Excel uses, you're going to want to use semi-colons. That should do the trick. Here's the exact quote I found:

Originally Posted by OpenOffice.org

If/Then statements take the form =IF(condition;true;false).

Nested If/Then statements take the form
=IF(1st condition ;
IF(2nd condition ; 1st and 2nd true ; 1st true, 2ndfalse ) ;
IF(3rd condition ; 1st contition false, third condition true ; 1st
condition false and 3rd condition false) )

Example: put 1 in a1, 2 in a2, 3 in a3, and in a4 put the equasion:
=IF(SUM(A1:A3)>6; IF(SUM(A1:A3)>10;">6 >10"; ">6,<10" ) ;
IF(SUM(A1:A3)>4;"<10, <4";"<=3"))

now you can play around with the values in a1, a2, and a3 and see the
results change in a4.

[devonin]

Originally Posted by Relambrien

Alright, let me start by assuring you that the syntax is indeed correct for Excel. Though I wonder why you're using greater than as opposed to greater than or equal to. Is a 60 actually failing and 61 passing? Because at H9=60, that still prints "fail" in the cell.

I'll find some stuff out for open office and edit this once I've done so.

EDIT: Found it. Apparently, instead of the commas that Excel uses, you're going to want to use semi-colons. That should do the trick. Here's the exact quote I found:

Looks good thanks. And as an incidental aside, yes it was specified in the assignment that "marks above 60" were passes, rather than "60 and above" as would make more reasonable sense in reality.