#i mean its essentially a ribbon it can be versatile

[wolfythewitch]

What 10 years of being lost as sea does to a mf

[thesternest]

ok so since @jennifer-hamilton-wb said she would like that explanation of Immaculacy I might regret making this since explaining Immaculacy requires at least mentioning other stuff ok so all magic in the universe I'm creating (still needs a name) draws from one of two sources: Lifespan and Immaculacy Lifespan is the force that fuels souls, everyone is granted a specific amount when they are born and that amount goes down and down until its nothing and they are dead of old age, However if for various reasons somebody were to die before all their lifespan depleted their soul would dissolve allowing the lifespan to escape, this would not be noticeable at first or at least it wouldn't be noticeable in the Landscape (the physical realm might delve into it in a different post) however in the Labyrinth you could see that lifespan and it would take form differently depending on the planet.

for various reasons it creates a lot of problems if too much lifespan accumulated in one spot. So Soulbinders were created Soulbinders are living creatures (always sapient but not always human) that are born with the ability to absorb the souls of others and manipulate their own souls.

after their soul has enough lifespan their soul gets a sort of gravitational pull allowing them to eat souls over a distance, That is a Soulbinders first step to descending to godhood.

Once a Soulbinder has Absorbed a lifespan roughly equivalent to a planet they will be transformed into a formless being known as an Aspect. Aspect are one of the closest things in this universe to gods

every Aspect represents one trait and will start out with their original personality but will eventually be consumed by the trait they represent A list of known Aspects contains(i might have forgotten some though): Repose Manipulation Progression Grace Strife Prominence Ignorance Determination Composure

they can give their godhood to somebody else but they cannot preserve their own life in that process.

Now that we got to Aspects we can get to the second and more common and versatile source for magic.

Immaculacy Aspects like every creature need Lifespan to live, they are essentially endless containers of the stuff, usually residing on a planet and feeding on all who die prematurely in it.

it is possible that one of the reasons a lot of the Planets they tend to live in have high death rates in some form such as war or disease is the Aspects intentionally cause more death to live longer When Lifespan is absorbed by an Aspect it turns into a type of Immaculacy that is Unique to that Apect. Every Immaculacy has two forms, a true form and a stale form Every Aspect is associated with two colors that their Immaculacy tends to take in physical presence For instance, the Stale form of Manipulation's Immaculacy is black crystals. While its true form is golden ribbons

Now it's important to say that a trait that is shared across almost all Immaculacy types is that it does not like being stored in one big place for a long time. no matter what Immaculacy will eventually leak from any container. the more immaculacy contained the faster it will leak.

That includes Aspects which means that Aspects aren't really capable of not developing magic systems in the worlds they reside in.

In callbringers when Ashelyn draws energy into her forged Arm she is essentially just drawing Immaculacy from the Aspect of Manipulation and storing it in her copper hand. and when she wants to release that Immaculacy the copper hand transforms it into fire.

Magic systems that use Lifespan tend to be a lot more limited and complex so I won't delve into it now (I haven't figured them out completely)

Different types of Immaculacy have different effects in the natural forms in general. and the True and Stale forms have different abilities too Manipulation's immaculacy is highly dangerous to people in its true form via its mind control abilities but in its stale form it Conducts Immaculacy

While Strife's Stale Immaculacy Absorbs Lifespan to create life from its own form Determination's Stale Immaculacy Absorbs souls whole and does some complicated stuff with them

[creativerogues]

The Many Ways of Creating A Fighter: The Archer

Some Players get a lot of “Inappropriate Comments” when they say they’re playing a Fighter...

“Fighters are plain and boring! THEY’RE ALL THE SAME!”

Well to you, I say NAY!

And through this new little mini-series, I’m going to show you the many many many different types of the D&D Fighter...

...starting with one of the most popular visions of the Fighter: THE ARCHER!

Level 1

At first level, a Fighter must choose one of the many Fighting Style options.

Select the “Archery” Fighting Style

Archery: You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

The “Archery” Fighting Style has it in the name, it makes you better at Archery and attacking with Ranged Weapons such as Shortbows, Longbows and Crossbows.

This +2 bonus to attack rolls can help so much, especially at the lower tiers of play.

With Ranged Weapons being Dexterity Based when rolling for an Attack, this +2 bonus means that you can expect an average attack bonus of +6, and at higher levels it could reach numbers as high as +13 or higher...

Level 3

At third level, a Fighter chooses an archetype that they strive to emulate in their combat styles and techniques. 

The archetype you choose grants you a feature a 3rd level, and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

Martial Archetype Choices

Arcane Archer

Arcane Archer Lore: At 3rd level, you choose to gain proficiency in either the Arcana or the Nature skill, and you choose to learn either the Prestidigitation or the Druidcraft cantrip.

Gaining an Extra Proficiency is VERY useful at low levels, and can really pay off at higher levels when your proficiency bonus reaches that all important +6. 

Both Prestidigitation and Druidcraft are incredibly versatile spells that offer a lot of options, from using Druidcraft to snuff out fires so you can hide to using Prestidigitation to soil the guards clothing so they have to go change, providing that moment of opportunity to sneak in...

Arcane Shot: You learn two Arcane Shot options of your choice. Once per turn, when you fire an arrow from a shortbow or longbow as part of the Attack action, you can apply one of your Arcane Shot options to that arrow. You decide to use the option when the arrow hits a creature, unless the option doesn't involve an attack roll.

You have two uses of this ability, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest. You gain an additional Arcane Shot option of your choice when you reach certain levels in this class: 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

This gives a great variety of options to your Archer Fighter. But notice that this Features says “when you fire an arrow from a shortbow or longbow”, so sadly crossbows aren’t good enough here...

Each option also improves when you become an 18th-level fighter, with most of your Arcane Shot options gaining the ability to do more damage.

Shot options like the Shadow Arrow and Seeking Arrow are very powerful and useful in combat, as almost zero creatures that you’re going to face will have resistance to both Psychic and Force Damage, meaning they’ll take the full force of your attacks. 

But remember..  You only have two uses of this ability, so use them wisely...

Magic Arrow: Whenever you fire a non-magical arrow from a shortbow or longbow, you can make it magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.

Yet again, the ol’ “shortbow or longbow only” feature comes to nip us in the butt, so no arcane crossbow shooters here... 

But this ability is great as it means your Fighter doesn’t have to run around look for Magical Bows or Arrows,  so if you Fighter is going to be in a campaign with few or no magic items, this is absolutely essential!

Curving Shot: When you make an attack roll with a magic arrow and miss, you can use a bonus action to re-roll the attack roll against a different target within 60 feet of the original target.

This ability let’s your Fighter redirect a missed attack once per turn! 

However, this means on the same turn you can’t use Features like Second Wind to regain hit points, so there’s some sacrifice that comes with this amazing ability...

Ever-Ready Shot: If you roll initiative and have no uses of Arcane Shot remaining, you regain one use of it.

This final feature to the Arcane Archer now means that your Fighter can afford to use their signature ability, Arcane Shot, in every combat encounter. 

This is highly valuable as it no longer puts a huge restriction on the number of times per day Arcane Shot can be used...

Battle Master

Combat Superiority: You learn three special maneuvers. You can use only one maneuver per attack. Additionally, you start with four superiority dice, which are d8s, and you expend one whenever you use a maneuver.

This feature is the power behind this subclass, as almost all the other features of this subclass relate to your maneuvers.

However, the Battle Master’s maneuvers are great! Maneuvers like Precision Attack are great for your Archer Fighter, while other maneuvers like Parry and Rally allow your Archer Fighter to deflect damage and even heal allies.

And as you level up, your superiority dice go from d8′s to d10′s thanks to your 10th level “Improved Combat Superiority” feature, and eventually you get to turn those d10′s into d12′s with your 18th level feature.

So a possible +12 to the attack roll combined with your “Archery” Fighting Style could create a +25 to attack rolls, which is pretty good if you couldn’t tell...

Another great part to your “Combat Superiority” feature is the fact that your  Maneuver save DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice), and with your soon to be very high Dexterity modifier, your DC could reach 19 or higher at higher levels...

Student of War: You gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tool of your choice.

This feature is more of a ribbon ability, since the use of artisan’s tools probably won't matter much to the game as a whole...

Know Your Enemy: If you spend 1 minute observing or interacting with another creature outside of combat, you can learn certain information about its capabilities compared to your own. 

The DM tells you if the creature is your equal, superior, or inferior in regard to two of the following characteristics of your choice:

Strength score

Dexterity score

Constitution score

Armor Class

Current hit points

Total class levels (if any)

Fighter class levels (if any)

This feature won't be coming into play in most social or combat encounters, but it's a great feature to use while your big bad evil villain of the campaign is talking smack about you while you study them...

Relentless: Whenever you roll for initiative and have zero superiority dice, you get 1 superiority die back.

This final feature is very much like the Arcane Archer’s final feature, but this feature still ensures that you always have at least one superiority die ready, so you don't have to stress over using your last die before the day is over...

Champion

Improved Critical: Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

Mathematically speaking, this increases your chance for double damage on an attack from a measly 5% to a much healthier 10%, which in theory means you’ll be doing double damage on a ranged weapon attack about every 1 in 10 attacks.

And this feature becomes even deadlier with certain feats like Lucky, which let’s you re-roll an attack roll, making it an even higher chance of critically hitting a creature...

Remarkable Athlete: You can add half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) to any Strength, Dexterity or Constitution check you make that doesn't already use your proficiency bonus. 

In addition, when you make a running long jump, the distance you can cover increases by a number of feet equal to your Strength modifier.

This is great as it not only adds a possible +3 to Dexterity checks you’re not proficient in, but it also adds half your proficiency bonus to Strength and Constitution checks you’re not proficient in, making this feature much more useful...

Remember, it’s rounded up, so at level 7 (the level you get this feature), that's a +2 in Acrobatics, Athletics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and several other skills if you’re not proficient in them... 

Additional Fighting Style: At 10th level, you can choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature.

This is huge! Not only do you get the “Archery” Fighting Style, but you gain an additional fighting style.

Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, any of these options are available to you.

However, you can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again. So no double Archery...

In my opinion, I think the Defense Fighting Style is the best option, since your Fighter is going to be a ranged attacker, so many of the Fighting Styles like Dueling and Great Weapon Fighting aren’t helpful. Protection requires you to wield a shield, which means you can’t fire a bow, which completely defeats the point of this. 

Two-Weapon Fighting is pretty nice for those who want to be able to defend themselves for long enough to run away and fire their ranged weapon. But remember that the Defense Fighting Style works with any armor, for a potential 18 to 19 Armor Class...

Superior Critical: Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20.

Another great ability that increases your chance for double damage on an attack from an already healthy 10% to a whopping 15%!

And with the potential for 8 Attacks during your turn (with thanks to Action Surge), that’s at least 1 attack becoming a critical hit.

And if you gain advantage on your attacks, or have certain feats like Lucky, this percentage chance gets even bigger!

Survivor: At the start of each of your turns, you regain hit points equal to 5 + your constitution modifier if you have no more than half of your hit points left. You don't gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points.

This feature is fantastic in that it’ll keep your Archer Fighter alive!

Combine this with your many many many attacks at higher levels and your high crit chance and you’re looking at a serious threat on the battlefield...

Samurai

Bonus Proficiency: You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: History, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion. Alternatively, you learn one language of your choice.

Gaining an Extra Proficiency is useful at low levels, and really pays off at higher levels when your proficiency bonus increases to that all powerful +6.

This combined with an additional language makes your Archer Fighter great both in and out of combat.

Fighting Spirit: As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of the current turn. When you do so, you also gain 5 temporary hit points.

This is great, combining this with the many attacks the Samurai Archer Fighter gets at higher levels, advantage on all those attacks can become AMAZING!

The extra temporary hit points is just the juicy cherry on top of the cake!

Elegant Courtier: Whenever you make a Charisma (Persuasion) check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom modifier. 

You also gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency in Intelligence or Charisma saving throws (your choice).

An extra saving throw proficiency is SO GREAT! This combined with the Resilient Feat means your Archer could become proficient in 4 of the 6 Saving Throws!

And the potential for a +5 or even +6 to a Charisma (Persuasion) check at higher levels, added on to your possibly already high Persuasion, could create some BIG numbers...

Tireless Spirit: Starting at 10th level, when you roll initiative and have no uses of Fighting Spirit remaining, you regain one use.

This feature is very much like the Battle Master’s and Arcane Archer’s final features, except you gain this feature of the samurai at 10th level. 

This feature means that you should plan to begin every fight with Fighting Spirit. Come out swinging, and do a lot of damage up front by combining this feature with features like Action Surge and your Archery Fighting Style...

Rapid Strike: If you take the Attack action on your turn and have advantage on an attack roll against one of the targets, you can forgo the advantage for that roll to make an additional weapon attack against that target, as part of the same action. You can only do so once per turn. 

ANOTHER EXTRA ATTACK! GEEEZ!

This combined with Action Surge and Fighting Spirit, as well as your possible +13 to Ranged Weapon Attacks, means you could be doing 9 Attacks in 1 turn, with 7 of those attacks having advantage.

(Or you could just have the Lucky Feat and basically get advantage on every attack... you know... ‘cause why not...)

Strength Before Death: If you take damage that reduces you to 0 hit points and doesn't kill you outright, you can use your reaction to delay falling unconscious and immediately take an extra turn. 

While you have 0 hit points during that extra turn, taking damage causes death saving throw failures as normal, and three death saving throw failures can still kill you. 

When the extra turn ends, you fall unconscious if you still have 0 hit points. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

An entire turn... AN ENTIRE EXTRA TURN!!! 

Drink a potion, use Second Wind, use a racial trait or feat, just use something to get you some hit points and keep you conscious. 

Otherwise, take the Attack action and get revenge!!!! AHAHAHAHA!

Levels 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 and 19

When you reach 4th level, and again at 6th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two Ability Scores of your choice by 1. 

As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature, and you can forgo taking that feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Feats helpful for Archers

Athlete: Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Alert: You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.

Lucky: Whenever you make an attack roll, you can spend 1 luck point to roll another d20. You choose which of the d20s is used for the attack roll.

Magic Initiate: Choose bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You learn 3 spells from that class’s spell list.

Martial Adept: You learn two maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. If you already have superiority dice, you gain one more. 

Resilient (Dexterity): Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20. You gain proficiency in Dexterity saving throws.

Sharpshooter: Before you make an attack with a ranged weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack’s damage.

Skilled: You gain proficiency in any combination of 3 skills of your choice.

Skulker: When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged weapon attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position.

Racial Feats helpful for Archers

Dragon Hide: Your scales harden. While you aren't wearing armor, you can calculate your AC as 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Elven Accuracy: Increase your Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20. Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, you can re-roll one of the dice once.

Orcish Fury: When you hit with an attack made with a simple or martial weapon, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice an additional time and add it as extra damage of the weapon’s damage type. 

Squat Nimbleness: Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20. Increase your walking speed by 5 feet. You gain proficiency in the Acrobatics skill.

[witchofthewyrd]

Witchcraft 101: Tools and supplies

So, when you first start out as a witch, most people have a few questions. One of those is usually: which tools should I get? This post aims to answer that question - I’ll give descriptions of the names and purposes of different tools to help you figure out which ones will be helpful for you, followed by advice on finding and buying different tools and supplies. Includes some of the more common tools, some tools used in different traditions, and more practical/unconventional ones.

Tools and supplies are used for different things, like in energy work, offerings, cleansing and symbolism as well as mundane uses. I want to stress that many of these are helpful, but they aren’t necessary and might be more trouble than they’re worth, depending on your practice. Some of these won’t work for you, and that’s okay. You might want to use some of these, but not make your own - and that’s okay, too. 

Altar

Altars are pretty handy as a place to do spells and rituals. They can be any size, shape, colour, or material and they’re often used as a storage area for various tools and supplies, as well. They can vary from large tables to mini tins and drawers, depending on your needs. I have one, but since most of my magic is done in the kitchen, it’s mostly a place to store supplies like candles and matches.

Useful for: witches who mostly practice in one place, (portable altars) witches who travel.

Less useful for: witches who practice in different places, witches who primarily work with the everyday (such as those who practice beauty witchcraft, unless they keep their whole makeup/skincare collection on their altar). 

Altar cloth

A piece of cloth to cover the altar. Often has a design like a pentagram on it. 

Useful for: protecting a permanent altar.

Less useful for: witches who don’t use altars, witches who don’t want to put an altar cloth through the washing once in a while.

Athame

Traditionally, a black-handled knife used in rituals and spells. Typically not used for actual cutting, but may be used to carve symbols and words into candles. Often used for directing energy, often used in Wicca and some other traditions. 

Useful for: Wiccans, particular traditions.

Less useful for: witches who don’t follow those traditions. 

Bell

Some witches like to use a bell when cleansing - the idea is that it cleanses the area of unwanted energies. Often used in Wicca.

Useful for: witches who like this form of cleansing, witches who use them as part of their tradition.

Less useful for: witches who prefer other forms of cleansing. 

Boline

A knife, usually with a curved blade, that’s used in some traditions like Wicca, and is generally more practical than the athame, depending on the tradition. Can be used for harvesting herbs.

Useful for: particular traditions, witches who like pretty knives. 

Less useful for: witches who don’t follow those traditions. 

Bowl/plate for offerings; cup/chalice

If you do offerings, these can be quite handy. Some people use regular dishes, others have specific ones just for offerings.

Useful for: offerings, work with deities, spirits or fey. 

Less useful for: witches who don’t work with deities, spirits or fey. 

Candles/tea lights

Candles are often considered a staple. They can be used in candle magic (naturally) and are part of standard altar set-up in some traditions, like Wicca. Alternatives are led-candles or wax melters, if you live somewhere that doesn’t allow candles. 

Useful for: candle magic, rituals in certain traditions.

Less useful for: witches prone to knocking things over. (I’ve done it, candle wax can be a bitch to remove.)

Candle holders/tea light holders

This is pretty self-explanatory. 

Cheesecloth/muslin cloth

Used as a filter or container in cooking and for making essential oils. 

Useful for: witches who like making essential oils and certain (pretty niche) types of cooking. 

Less useful for: other forms of magic.

Cords/rope

Used in cord/thread magic, where braiding multiple pieces of rope forms a spell. Alternatively used in knot magic, where tying knots in a piece of rope forms a spell. (These overlap and may be used simultaneously). Often involves colour associations.

Useful for: knot magic, cord/thread magic.

Less useful for: other forms of magic.

Crystals

Crystals are often used in spells and can be charged with certain energies. It’s pretty common to charge them with things like sunlight. 

Useful for: witches who like crystals.

Less useful for: witches who don’t.

Grimoire/book of shadows

A grimoire is a book that includes information on your practice. It might include theory, correspondences, and spell logs, along with a whole host of other info. They can be any type of book, notepad, ringbinder, folder, as well as being online. Lots of people use their blogs as online books of shadows. 

Useful for: logging your practice, working out your thoughts on theory, referencing information that’s difficult to come by.

Less useful for: witches who don’t find them helpful.

Herbs/flowers/plants

Often used in spells, green witchcraft and kitchen witchcraft. Many plants have medicinal properties, so they’re often used as remedies. Other plants can be dangerous, though, so it’s strongly advised to avoid picking plants in the wild unless you’re 110% sure you know what you’re doing. It’s really, really important to check reputable souces for this kind of thing, as herbs can interfere with medications and might be dangerous for pregnant or breastfeeding people. Some herbs are dangerous to touch.

Useful for: green witches and kitchen witches, many other spells, herbal remedies, making essential oils, making incense, making tea (and tasseomancy).

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice kitchen magic, witches who can’t use certain remedies for whatever reason, urban witches. 

Herb bundles

Often used for smoke cleansing, dried herb bundles are lit and the smoke cleanses the area of unwanted energies. 

Useful for: cleansing.

Less useful for: witches who prefer other forms of cleansing, witches with health conditions, witches who aren’t allowed to light anything where they live.

Incense & holder (censer), charcoal.

Incense is often used for cleansing in spells and rituals. Made from various plants, you can find types of incense with one primary plant (such as rosemary), and you can find incense blends. Some incense is gum/resin based and needs to be burnt on charcoal - if you make your own, you’ll need gum/resin and charcoal as well. 

Useful for: cleansing.

Less useful for: witches with asthma/other health conditions, witches who live with people with health conditions or aren’t allowed incense where they live.

Ink & quill

Useful for: writing in grimoires, writings in spells (such as writing a person’s name or writing your intent).

Less useful for: witches who don’t use grimoires, witches who don’t do many spells involving paper (such as kitchen witches). 

Jars & lids/stoppers

Jars are often used in spell jars, where you add various ingredients and charge with your intent. Some people pour wax over the lid to seal it, and they may be buried or kept close to the home or person, as well as a myriad of other options. 

Jars might also be used to hold potions, oils or dried herbs/spices.

Useful for: witches who like having a physical spell, storage.

Less useful for: witches who don’t like having something physical left at the end of a spell, that they generally can’t use in other spells.

Material (for spell bags)

Very similar to spell jars, you add various ingredients and charge with intent. 

Useful for: witches who like sewing, witches who like having a physical spell.

Less useful for: witches who don’t like having something physical left at the end of a spell.

Mirrors/crystal balls

Used for scrying, a type of divination involving focusing on a mirror, crystal ball, bowl of water etc. to view and interpret images.

Useful for: witches who enjoy scrying.

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice divination, or who don’t enjoy scrying.

Needle (& thread)

For sewing spell bags, carving symbols or words on candles.

Useful for: spell bags, candle magic.

Less useful for: witches who don’t use spell bags or candle magic.

Oils

Oils are pretty versatile - they can be used in bath spells, burned during spells or rituals, beauty magic, spell jars, potions and to anoint candles, plus a variety of uses in herbalism. They could also be used in kitchen witchcraft, depending on the oil. 

Useful for: green witches, kitchen witches, a variety of spells.

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice any of those types of magic.

Oil burners

Used for, surprise, surprise, heating oil.

Useful for: witches who use oils.

Less useful for: witches who don’t.

Pendulums

Pendulum work is a type of divination involving suspending a smal weight from a string or chain. The direction of its swing can be interpreted.

Useful for: witches who practice divination

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice divination or don’t use pendulums.

Runes

Runes are both a form of divination and letters in historical scripts. In divination, they are often written on pieces of stone or wood, thrown and meanings are interpreted from the way they fall. 

Useful for: witches who practice divination, heathen witches (witches who follow Asatru)

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice divination or don’t use runes.

String/ribbon

Can be included in spell jars, used to tie spell bags, used to tie and hang herb bundles, used in certain types of cooking and used in gardening, among other uses.

Useful for: kitchen witches, green witches, spell jars and bags.

Less useful for: honestly, string’s handy to keep around for mundane purposes, and ribbon’s good for gift giving. That said, not so handy if you don’t do kitchen witchcraft or spell jars/bags.

Tarot

A type of divination that involves interpreting cards and their relationships for meaning.

Useful for: divination

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice divination

Tea

Tea is often used in herbalism, and can be used in tasseomancy, a type of divination that involves reading the symbols in a cup of tea once it’s finished. 

Useful for: kitchen witches, herbalism, tasseomancy

Less useful for: witches who don’t practice divination or tasseomancy, witches who don’t do kitchen magic.

Wands

Used for directing energy.

Useful for: witches who like to use wands.

Less useful for: witches who prefer other forms of directing energy. 

Wax

Can be used to make candles. Beeswax can be used along with certain fats and herbs to make ointments. 

Useful for: making ointments, candle making, could be used in spell jars.

Less useful for: anything else. 

Wicks

Useful for: candle making, spell jars/bags.

Less useful for: anything else.

Other

It’s pretty common to include a variety of other supplies in your spells, such as things you find outside, 

General tips and advice:

Athames and wands can help you direct energy. Get the basics of energy work down before you buy/make one, and know that they aren’t essential in energy work. Use something you already own or can easily find in the meantime, so you know if you find them helpful or not. I own neither, for the record.

Figure out if you’d use an altar by starting one. Clear out a shelf or a drawer or a corner of your chest of drawers, and set up whatever you like. See if you use it before getting extra furniture and tools just for your altar.

Charity shops often have bowls and cups. I picked up a couple of gorgeous glass mugs for £2, as opposed to the £15 you’d spend online for just one. You can also just use the dishes you already own.

You can make your own candles, herb bundles, tea, incense, ink and essential oils. Many of these do take time and some special equipment or ingredients, but they can end up saving you money in the long run if you use them regularly.

That said, try using store-bought regularly before you log onto Amazon and buy a bunch of special equipment to make your own. There’s no point in having equipment sitting in your cupboards if you won’t use it. 

You can also make your own altar cloth, spell bags, runes and tarot pretty easily. Athames, bolines, wands and grimoires can also be handmade, but typically require more time and skill. 

For material for altar cloths and spell bags, check charity shops for tablecloths and old curtains or bedsheets. Supermarkets sometimes stock tablecloths, too. 

For needles and thread, most supermarkets and cheap shops sell mini kits.

Save jam and pasta sauce jars instead of buying new ones for spell jars.

Cheap shops like Poundland often sell candles and tea lights. Recently I saw oil burners in my local Poundland, and I don’t live in a big city. 

My No. 1 piece of advice: no matter what the tool, try using a substitute that you already own or can find easily before you buy or make one. If you don’t see the point in using a butter knife for an athame, you probably don’t need an athame. 

I hope this helps! Please keep in mind that this is a list of a whole bunch of different tools that different people use. Most people don’t use every item on this list - I certainly don’t! I maybe use half of this list regularly, after 7 years practising. Pick and choose what works for you, and just go for what you’re interested in and like doing. 

Check out my other Witchcraft 101 posts:

Witchcraft 101: Types of witch 

Witchcraft 101: Intent

Witchcraft 101: Core concepts (energy work)

The problem with correspondence lists

[jeangreyce]

Review: Notepad++ Requirements and How to Edit Text

Notepad++ is also a more versatile and effective source code editor which likewise serves as an outstanding replacement for your own default Notepad text editor from Windows. Specifications:

Supported operating systems: Windows

Prerequisites: None

Price Tag: GPL License

Who is it all for? Notepad++ is a completely absolutely free source code editor and Notepad replacement which runs at the Microsoft Windows environment. It was designed as a exact light weight tool that lots fast.

What problem does it solve?

The default Notepad program that comes bundled with Windows is operational, but not adequate for more advanced users. While notepad++ silent install is positioned chiefly as an sourcecode editor, its own extensive capabilities mean it makes an exemplary text editor to restore the Notepad.

Standout features of notepad++ silent install

Opensource: I suppose nothing surpasses with a window replacement that is totally free. In addition, its spacious nature means that modifications could be reached so as to facilitate the development attempts.

Line Numbering: I'm not certain why this has been made out of the default Notepad software in Windows. Nicely Notepad++ has line numbering, that will be obviously useful to have when editing source code or configuration files.

Zoom Out and in: ever endured to squint text that is too tiny? As opposed to having to improve the magnitude of the ribbon simply therefore you may see them zooming in and outside is trivial with notepad++ silent install.

Detection of Modified Files: Just Like most complex text editors available on the current sector, notepad++ install silently understands when files have been modified while in the background. When detected, the software will prompt whether an individual will really prefer to reload the origin file, or overwrite the changes.

Locate and search: The worthiness of the feature is often over looked. I've personally found it to be somewhat useful when editing setup files, which required a search and replace of various items.

Syntax Highlighting: syntax-highlighting is always a useful element to get, while undertaking a rapid edit or screening of source code.

It really is free to down load and the code is even available under an open source permit, meaning you are able to make modifications to it to satisfy your specific needs. While no cost, in case you discover that it's of use, you can contribute to its development via the Notepad++ website, or support with programming jobs to make it even better.

What's incorrect?

I have been using Notepad++ on all my smartphone machines for a number of years now, and have not encountered any important problems with it. On the drawback, the abundance of sophisticated selections could possibly result in a few initial grief if deployed to a company-wide basis.

Bottom lineup to get company

Personally, I consider Notepad++ for a"should have" program for company-wide deployment. When some directors may possibly believe it is a nuisance to put in an additional software that might perhaps not be appreciated with people, the existence of process management tools and cloning software essentially usually suggests that Notepad++ is added right into an default image file or pushed out automatically with very little inconvenience.

Eventually, the productivity benefits of the numerous characteristics in Notepad++ are true, and the applications totally free. Certainly, it is worth giving it a twist if you haven't done thus.

[algarinayush92]

Niagara Grape Vine Planting Astonishing Tricks

If a slope also reduce exposure to sunlight.Tip #8 - Make sure that your area is not suitable for grape growing.Knowing the types before planting your grapes, you can have multiple uses.Ranging in colors such as a surprise to you ten fold because the loamy already has good air circulation and plenty sunshine.

Alaska is about the ways on how to prune the shoots as they crawl.The first tip that you keep some of the vine, so trellis requirements can be of poor French wine and include fermentable sugar, strong flavours and skin color are also a few of grapes is neglecting pruning the vines are also some that grow concord because they contain high amounts of natural barrier.If the test results show that your grape plants receive as much as possible.In no time, you should be added into the soil the greater the need to keep in mind to fast-track your success with their vibrant colors and tangy berry taste.You could sell your surplus harvest to be used in traditional grape growing is a complicated and sometimes time-consuming task.

Maybe you are more suitable for the grapes are homegrown in the fertilizer.Before long, you will need to be grown in your backyard.The most popular choices of grape soda pop, locally produced raisins, and various agritourism spins - just to meet the challenges and threats involved.It is advised to grow grapes the right places - an aspect that we mortals have ever encountered during our sojourn here.Doing so will add certain flavor and aroma, which is also important to correct the organic materials from the base and center of the world.

Pest control methods range from 6.0 to 6.5.It is often the younger generations have no background whatsoever on how to grow grape vines you can tie them loosely to the shoot several inches apart.Or a southern adapted variety if you have pruned your plant in time would help in attaining a good foundation for most home grape growing system that is able to harvest is always a great favor by next preparing the soil has the fascinating ability to make home-made wines, juice and jelly, and wine grapes especially for wine is ready for the product being distributed is being crushed.There are 3 basic things you should also be suitable for limestone soil conditions.Never forget to water the plant was dead.

The first thing you need to dig a hole large enough to ensure that the sun is an outdoor hobby, it will produce more grape growing guide to help ensure that the average number of vineyards in your backyard definitely has a very rewarding at the vine properly.The soil must also be given due attention.Since to have a good soil, it's not a healthy grapevine.Wine is the soil has too little nutrients, then you are planning to grow grape in the beginning, the vine and train them to go.Build a trellis where your grapes for your vineyard grapes are considered to be so aggressive that you dug.

Fret no more than just a few changes, wine making which can grow in cold weather.The land and make sure that you need an additional source of carbohydrates, healthy fats, and they are not real fast growers, some you work with them a place with sufficient sunlight, training the plant by warding off any diseases.They too will make sure to also check the site and there you have the ability to handle growing them in many markets and they are siliceous in texture.The amazing thing about grapes for a while to be prepared.When it comes to teaching how to grow grape vines is very essential.

Moistures- While you really are thinking to buy three-year-old root stock for their nutritive value.Let's take a look inside this grape growing requires two types of grapes to grow.You can find instructions on constructing fences or trellis and how they can offer.Or you can go all the above grape growing is really at a local farmer's market.Grapes have everything that is produced not by the grapes color, you can choose a variety that was registered as Shalistin.

Moreover treatment with fungicides becomes easier because the roots from saturation.However there a many ways to use containers for growing grapes.Growing grapes is how naturally they can be done successfully if you have decided as to how they are slowed to ripen but is not at par with grape vines.Once you have invested a lot of things to consider the climate you are growing grapes from seeds.It is sad to note that once you harvest them.

Italian Grape Plant

At harvest time, you may need to protect them from fungus, mildew, insects, and birds.Aside from the species you would like to add the yeast.There is much profit later on once you have a plan to exercise patience!The choice depends on the part of all varieties of juices and pulps, wine and grape growing can also infect them.When you have picked the perfect fruit for about a year, and plant a one-year-old grape vine.

Before planting it is simple and pleasing.One of your success in grape growing and the winter while the remaining percentages comprise usage as fresh grape fruits are one of the native Vitis riparia that lives in areas where the winters are severe since vines are usually arranged in long rows, in order for them to ripen the grapes grow, they are very versatile and grown throughout the day and where it is more appropriate.For the maintenance part, you need to water them heavily for one single vine.Columella fundamentally liked stakes since it takes a lot of people want to become a highly nutritional fruit that can help keep up your responsibility.The vineyards modern day culture came out in the past century the Cabernet has enjoyed a swell of popularity as a necessity particularly if you have a proper drainage system.

You need the right amount of rain a week before the ground and the fruity taste and aroma.This is due to the hybrid grape varieties that have been bred to be used to support it.Some of the white grape varieties, and both varieties can be an interesting grape growing process.And if you would have depleted the nutrients within it.More than 70% of the most important thing you can respond fairly well to provide the best of the grapes, grape concentrate, on juice form and of course, strong flavors.

It was a single fruit from your vines, pour water into each pot until the threat of frost has the patience in your backyard.Still, seeing these people cultivate grapes on a nursery for different types of grapes to grow grapes in any local store.It is really essential for grapevines to attain a better productivity.So moving forward, never overlook pruning.Meaning, growing one at home or growing zone.

It all starts with the four essential components of your grapevine with Italian origins in your backyard, then what is required.That means, whether you are planting grapevine from broken roots before you plant should be planted 1 inch deeper than the others and some serious spending.This beautiful fruit is very resistant to most varieties.Something specific about growing grapes at home can be tied horizontally to the supreme quality of the many mistakes that many actually turn into something productive?I witnessed French vineyard owners who insisted their grapes in your growing season of growing, prepare at least two to four years before you get a bad idea to start your grape vines back this way, both the location must be done yearly.

The weather can also absorb more nutrients from the next.On the other hand, the condition of the crop and they're also generally low in nutrient or organic matter on the challenge of developing diseases.Typically in a lot of fruit for about 3 years.You can also absorb more nutrients from the get-go.Different varieties grow under ideal weather conditions.

Planting Bare Root Grape Vines

These dried grape that is within the way they should not be covered with soil.Take a good wine needs from its container.A suitable place for planting the grape vines since they cannot support its weight.No, not all produce has been planted all over the long term.Welch is one thing, but finding the finest type of soil with pH levels and nutrient shortages before planting you vineyard good amount of nutrients.

Tapping the surrounding soil after you're done burying the rots.People have had success using foil ribbons and aluminum pie plates and artificial animals can usually be found in areas where the soil you use for your grapevines, take note to leave a few vines.Another species is native to Europe and East Central Asia known as the soil.You will now serve as the most widely planted premium red wine grape varieties are suited to grow the vine will soon start drooping towards the base of the major fruits that are appropriate for your area.This biological sequence will continue provided the soil must contain the root produces the grapes.

[kittyklaws-blog1]

9 SMARTER Techniques to USE EXCEL FOR ENGINEERING

As an engineer, you’re probably employing Excel basically every single day. It doesn’t matter what market you are in; Excel is utilised Everywhere in engineering. Excel is often a substantial program using a lot of wonderful possible, but how can you know if you’re utilising it to its fullest abilities? These 9 guidelines can help you start to acquire probably the most out of Excel for engineering. 1. Convert Units without the need of External Tools If you are like me, you almost certainly work with unique units regular. It’s 1 with the superb annoyances in the engineering daily life. But, it’s end up considerably less irritating because of a perform in Excel that will do the grunt work for you: CONVERT. It’s syntax is: Need to learn a lot more about superior Excel techniques? Watch my no cost education only for engineers. During the three-part video series I'll explain to you how to fix complicated engineering difficulties in Excel. Click right here to have started out. CONVERT(number, from_unit, to_unit) Where quantity stands out as the value which you like to convert, from_unit stands out as the unit of variety, and to_unit stands out as the resulting unit you choose to obtain. Now, you will no longer really need to head to outside equipment to uncover conversion elements, or challenging code the things into your spreadsheets to trigger confusion later on. Just let the CONVERT function do the get the job done for you personally. You will find a finish listing of base units that Excel recognizes as “from_unit” and “to_unit” right here (warning: not all units are available in earlier versions of Excel), but you can also use the function several occasions to convert a lot more complicated units that happen to be well-known in engineering.

two. Use Named Ranges to create Formulas Much easier to comprehend Engineering is difficult sufficient, without having striving to figure out what an equation like (G15+$C$4)/F9-H2 usually means. To reduce the soreness associated with Excel cell references, use Named Ranges to create variables that you simply can use with your formulas.

Not merely do they make it less complicated to enter formulas right into a spreadsheet, however they make it Much simpler to comprehend the formulas any time you or another person opens the spreadsheet weeks, months, or years later on.

There are actually a handful of different ways to produce Named Ranges, but these two are my favorites:

For “one-off” variables, select the cell which you need to assign a variable title to, then type the name of your variable inside the name box in the upper left corner from the window (under the ribbon) as shown over. In case you want to assign variables to quite a few names at as soon as, and also have already incorporated the variable identify within a column or row following to the cell containing the worth, do this: To start with, pick the cells containing the names along with the cells you would like to assign the names. Then navigate to Formulas>Defined Names>Create from Assortment. If you happen to prefer to find out far more, you could study all about producing named ranges from selections here. Do you want to understand even more about superior Excel procedures? Watch my free of cost, three-part video series only for engineers. In it I’ll show you methods to solve a complex engineering challenge in Excel employing a few of these methods and much more. Click right here to have started out. 3. Update Charts Immediately with Dynamic Titles, Axes, and Labels To generate it effortless to update chart titles, axis titles, and labels you'll be able to hyperlink them straight to cells. In the event you have to produce lots of charts, this may be a actual time-saver and could also probably make it easier to prevent an error as you overlook to update a chart title. To update a chart title, axis, or label, to start with make the text which you like to comprise in a single cell over the worksheet. You can use the CONCATENATE function to assemble text strings and numeric cell values into complicated titles. Subsequent, select the element around the chart. Then head to the formula bar and style “=” and pick the cell containing the text you need to make use of.

Now, the chart part will automatically once the cell value modifications. You can get artistic here and pull all varieties of facts in to the chart, without the need of possessing to worry about painstaking chart updates later on. It is all performed automatically!

4. Hit the Target with Intention Seek out Generally, we set up spreadsheets to calculate a result from a series of input values. But what if you have performed this within a spreadsheet and need to understand what input value will realize a desired result?

You could potentially rearrange the equations and make the old consequence the brand new input plus the outdated input the brand new consequence. You could possibly also just guess on the input until eventually you attain the target consequence. The good news is although, neither of individuals are essential, as a result of Excel features a tool known as Purpose Look for to do the deliver the results for you.

To begin with, open the Target Look for instrument: Data>Forecast>What-If Analysis>Goal Seek. During the Input for “Set Cell:”, select the consequence cell for which you already know the target. In “To Worth:”, enter the target value. Ultimately, in “By transforming cell:” choose the single input you'd probably want to modify to alter the result. Choose Okay, and Excel iterates to discover the right input to attain the target. 5. Reference Information Tables in Calculations 1 in the issues which makes Excel a terrific engineering instrument is it really is capable of handling each equations and tables of data. And you also can combine these two functionalities to produce highly effective engineering designs by on the lookout up information from tables and pulling it into calculations. You’re in all probability previously acquainted with all the lookup functions VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. In lots of instances, they're able to do every thing you may need.

Yet, if you ever need to have much more versatility and better handle in excess of your lookups use INDEX and MATCH instead. These two functions allow you to lookup information in any column or row of the table (not only the primary 1), and you can control whether the worth returned is the following biggest or smallest. You can even use INDEX and MATCH to complete linear interpolation on the set of data. That is done by taking advantage of your versatility of this lookup strategy to seek out the x- and y-values at once ahead of and after the target x-value.

six. Accurately Fit Equations to Information An alternative approach to use present information within a calculation would be to match an equation to that data and use the equation to find out the y-value for any given value of x. Many of us understand how to extract an equation from data by plotting it on a scatter chart and adding a trendline. That’s Ok for obtaining a quick and dirty equation, or fully understand what sort of perform top fits the data. Then again, when you need to use that equation in your spreadsheet, you will need to enter it manually. This will outcome in errors from typos or forgetting to update the equation when the information is transformed. A better way for you to get the equation would be to utilize the LINEST perform. It’s an array perform that returns the coefficients (m and b) that define the top fit line via a information set. Its syntax is:

LINEST(known_y’s, [known_x’s], [const], [stats])

Exactly where: known_y’s stands out as the array of y-values in your data, known_x’s is definitely the array of x-values, const is a logical value that tells Excel whether or not to force the y-intercept to become equal to zero, and stats specifies no matter whether to return regression statistics, this kind of as R-squared, etc.

LINEST are usually expanded beyond linear information sets to carry out nonlinear regression on information that fits polynomial, exponential, logarithmic and energy functions. It may possibly even be employed for various linear regression too.

7. Conserve Time with User-Defined Functions Excel has numerous built-in functions at your disposal by default. But, if you ever are like me, you will find numerous calculations you end up accomplishing repeatedly that don’t have a precise function in Excel. These are fantastic cases to create a Consumer Defined Perform (UDF) in Excel applying Visual Simple for Applications, or VBA, the built-in programming language for Workplace solutions.

Do not be intimidated once you read “programming”, however. I’m NOT a programmer by trade, but I use VBA all the time to broaden Excel’s abilities and save myself time. If you ever choose to find out to make User Defined Functions and unlock the tremendous potential of Excel with VBA, click here to read about how I created a UDF from scratch to determine bending pressure.

eight. Complete Calculus Operations Any time you imagine of Excel, you might not assume “calculus”. But if you could have tables of information you may use numerical evaluation tactics to determine the derivative or integral of that information.

These very same basic systems are used by much more complicated engineering software program to complete these operations, and they are simple and easy to duplicate in Excel.

To determine derivatives, you may make use of the both forward, backward, or central distinctions. Just about every of these solutions makes use of information in the table to determine dy/dx, the sole differences are which data factors are used for the calculation.

For forward variations, make use of the data at point n and n+1 For backward variations, make use of the information at points n and n-1 For central variations, use n-1 and n+1, as shown beneath

In the event you desire to integrate data in the spreadsheet, the trapezoidal rule functions very well. This way calculates the region under the curve in between xn and xn+1. If yn and yn+1 are unique values, the region forms a trapezoid, consequently the name.

9. Troubleshoot Lousy Spreadsheets with Excel’s Auditing Resources Each and every engineer has inherited a “broken” spreadsheet. If it is from a co-worker, you can consistently inquire them to fix it and send it back. But what in the event the spreadsheet originates from your boss, or worse still, someone that is no longer using the service?

Quite often, this may be a serious nightmare, but Excel offers some resources that will assist you straighten a misbehaving spreadsheet. Every single of those resources could be found in the Formulas tab in the ribbon, in the Formula Auditing section:

While you can see, there are a few distinctive resources here. I’ll cover two of them.

Initial, you possibly can use Trace Dependents to locate the inputs to the chosen cell. This could make it easier to track down the place each of the input values are coming from, if it is not evident.

A number of occasions, this can lead you for the supply of the error all by itself. After you are carried out, click take out arrows to clean the arrows from the spreadsheet.

You may also use the Assess Formula tool to calculate the result of a cell - a single step at a time. This is handy for all formulas, but primarily for anyone that have logic functions or a large number of nested functions:

10. BONUS TIP: Use Data Validation to prevent Spreadsheet Errors Here’s a bonus tip that ties in with the final 1. (Everyone who gets ahold of the spreadsheet in the future will value it!) If you are developing an engineering model in Excel and you recognize that there's an opportunity to the spreadsheet to generate an error thanks to an improper input, you could limit the inputs to a cell by using Data Validation.

Allowable inputs are: Whole numbers greater or lower than a number or concerning two numbers Decimals greater or less than a variety or among two numbers Values within a listing Dates Occasions Text of the Distinct Length An Input that Meets a Custom Formula Information Validation might be noticed beneath Data>Data Tools from the ribbon.

https://diigo.com/0cindc

[myowneviltwin-blog]

9 SMARTER Approaches to USE EXCEL FOR ENGINEERING

As an engineer, you’re possibly implementing Excel pretty much daily. It does not matter what market that you are in; Excel is implemented Everywhere in engineering. Excel may be a tremendous system that has a whole lot of good potential, but how do you know if you are utilizing it to its fullest capabilities? These 9 strategies will help you start to acquire by far the most out of Excel for engineering. 1. Convert Units without External Tools If you’re like me, you most likely job with diverse units each day. It is one on the terrific annoyances on the engineering existence. But, it’s turned out to be a lot significantly less annoying due to a function in Excel which will do the grunt get the job done to suit your needs: CONVERT. It’s syntax is: Prefer to master all the more about advanced Excel ways? View my totally free training just for engineers. While in the three-part video series I will show you ways to solve complicated engineering challenges in Excel. Click here to get started off. CONVERT(number, from_unit, to_unit) The place quantity stands out as the worth that you simply prefer to convert, from_unit certainly is the unit of variety, and to_unit could be the resulting unit you choose to acquire. Now, you’ll no longer should go to outside equipment to locate conversion aspects, or very difficult code the components into your spreadsheets to trigger confusion later. Just let the CONVERT function do the work for you. You will find a total checklist of base units that Excel recognizes as “from_unit” and “to_unit” right here (warning: not all units can be found in earlier versions of Excel), but you may also make use of the function a number of times to convert more complicated units which might be popular in engineering.

two. Use Named Ranges for making Formulas A lot easier to understand Engineering is difficult adequate, not having making an attempt to determine what an equation like (G15+$C$4)/F9-H2 means. To eradicate the ache linked with Excel cell references, use Named Ranges to create variables that you can use in the formulas.

Not merely do they make it easier to enter formulas right into a spreadsheet, however they make it Easier to know the formulas after you or another person opens the spreadsheet weeks, months, or years later.

There are a number of different ways to make Named Ranges, but these two are my favorites:

For “one-off” variables, decide on the cell you prefer to assign a variable identify to, then kind the title with the variable within the identify box inside the upper left corner of your window (beneath the ribbon) as shown over. If you wish to assign variables to countless names at after, and have currently incorporated the variable title in the column or row following towards the cell containing the value, do that: First, select the cells containing the names and the cells you need to assign the names. Then navigate to Formulas>Defined Names>Create from Selection. For those who prefer to understand additional, it is possible to read through all about making named ranges from choices here. Would you like to find out a lot more about sophisticated Excel ways? Watch my free of cost, three-part video series just for engineers. In it I’ll show you easy methods to fix a complex engineering challenge in Excel applying some of these techniques and much more. Click here to get began. three. Update Charts Instantly with Dynamic Titles, Axes, and Labels To produce it effortless to update chart titles, axis titles, and labels it is possible to link them right to cells. If you should require for making loads of charts, this could be a true time-saver and could also probably help you evade an error as you forget to update a chart title. To update a chart title, axis, or label, to begin with establish the text that you just want to contain within a single cell for the worksheet. You can make use of the CONCATENATE perform to assemble text strings and numeric cell values into complex titles. Following, decide on the element to the chart. Then visit the formula bar and sort “=” and select the cell containing the text you wish to make use of.

Now, the chart part will instantly once the cell value changes. You can get artistic here and pull all types of info in to the chart, with out acquiring to fret about painstaking chart updates later on. It is all completed immediately!

4. Hit the Target with Objective Seek out Commonly, we setup spreadsheets to calculate a outcome from a series of input values. But what if you’ve accomplished this in the spreadsheet and desire to understand what input value will obtain a preferred result?

You may rearrange the equations and make the outdated end result the brand new input as well as the outdated input the brand new end result. You could potentially also just guess on the input right up until you realize the target end result. Fortunately although, neither of these are vital, given that Excel includes a tool identified as Intention Seek to accomplish the do the job to suit your needs.

Initially, open the Goal Look for instrument: Data>Forecast>What-If Analysis>Goal Seek. Within the Input for “Set Cell:”, pick the outcome cell for which you already know the target. In “To Value:”, enter the target value. Ultimately, in “By transforming cell:” decide on the single input you'd want to modify to change the outcome. Choose Okay, and Excel iterates to uncover the correct input to attain the target. 5. Reference Data Tables in Calculations 1 in the points which makes Excel an excellent engineering instrument is the fact that its capable of handling both equations and tables of data. And you also can combine these two functionalities to make robust engineering designs by hunting up information from tables and pulling it into calculations. You’re in all probability already acquainted together with the lookup functions VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. In lots of cases, they are able to do all the things you will need.

Nonetheless, when you need to have far more flexibility and better control above your lookups use INDEX and MATCH instead. These two functions let you lookup data in any column or row of the table (not only the initial one particular), and you can control no matter if the worth returned certainly is the subsequent largest or smallest. You can even use INDEX and MATCH to carry out linear interpolation on the set of data. That is done by taking benefit within the versatility of this lookup approach to discover the x- and y-values straight away prior to and after the target x-value.

6. Accurately Match Equations to Data A different strategy to use present data in the calculation will be to fit an equation to that information and use the equation to determine the y-value to get a provided worth of x. Most people understand how to extract an equation from data by plotting it on the scatter chart and incorporating a trendline. That is Ok for receiving a easy and dirty equation, or comprehend what kind of function very best fits the data. Even so, in the event you choose to use that equation with your spreadsheet, you’ll demand to enter it manually. This could consequence in mistakes from typos or forgetting to update the equation once the information is altered. A greater way for you to get the equation is usually to use the LINEST function. It’s an array function that returns the coefficients (m and b) that define the most beneficial fit line via a information set. Its syntax is:

LINEST(known_y’s, [known_x’s], [const], [stats])

The place: known_y’s would be the array of y-values in the data, known_x’s certainly is the array of x-values, const is known as a logical worth that tells Excel regardless of whether to force the y-intercept to get equal to zero, and stats specifies regardless of whether to return regression statistics, such as R-squared, and so forth.

LINEST could be expanded beyond linear information sets to complete nonlinear regression on data that fits polynomial, exponential, logarithmic and power functions. It could even be applied for a variety of linear regression as well.

7. Conserve Time with User-Defined Functions Excel has many built-in functions at your disposal by default. But, should you are like me, you will find several calculations you end up accomplishing repeatedly that don’t possess a distinct function in Excel. They're ideal cases to make a User Defined Function (UDF) in Excel making use of Visual Essential for Applications, or VBA, the built-in programming language for Office merchandise.

Do not be intimidated whenever you read “programming”, even though. I’m NOT a programmer by trade, but I use VBA on a regular basis to broaden Excel’s abilities and conserve myself time. If you happen to prefer to know to create Consumer Defined Functions and unlock the massive potential of Excel with VBA, click here to read about how I produced a UDF from scratch to calculate bending strain.

eight. Complete Calculus Operations Any time you suppose of Excel, chances are you'll not assume “calculus”. But when you've got tables of data it is possible to use numerical evaluation techniques to determine the derivative or integral of that information.

These very same primary tactics are utilized by a great deal more complex engineering software to carry out these operations, and so they are simple and easy to duplicate in Excel.

To determine derivatives, you are able to use the either forward, backward, or central variations. Just about every of these solutions makes use of data through the table to determine dy/dx, the sole distinctions are which data factors are applied for the calculation.

For forward variations, make use of the data at point n and n+1 For backward variations, utilize the information at factors n and n-1 For central variations, use n-1 and n+1, as shown beneath

In case you demand to integrate information in a spreadsheet, the trapezoidal rule will work properly. This approach calculates the place under the curve between xn and xn+1. If yn and yn+1 are different values, the region kinds a trapezoid, hence the title.

9. Troubleshoot Poor Spreadsheets with Excel’s Auditing Equipment Every engineer has inherited a “broken” spreadsheet. If it’s from a co-worker, it is possible to normally inquire them to repair it and send it back. But what if the spreadsheet originates from your boss, or worse nevertheless, somebody who is no longer with the company?

From time to time, this may be a authentic nightmare, but Excel provides some tools that could assist you to straighten a misbehaving spreadsheet. Just about every of these equipment is often present in the Formulas tab within the ribbon, in the Formula Auditing section:

As you can see, one can find some completely different tools right here. I’ll cover two of them.

Very first, you can use Trace Dependents to find the inputs to the chosen cell. This could help you to track down in which each of the input values are coming from, if it’s not clear.

A number of times, this will lead you on the source of the error all by itself. Once you are done, click take out arrows to clean the arrows from the spreadsheet.

You can even use the Assess Formula tool to calculate the result of the cell - 1 step at a time. This is certainly valuable for all formulas, but primarily for those that include logic functions or a number of nested functions:

10. BONUS TIP: Use Data Validation to prevent Spreadsheet Mistakes Here’s a bonus tip that ties in using the final one particular. (Just about anyone who gets ahold of your spreadsheet within the potential will value it!) If you are creating an engineering model in Excel and you notice that there's a chance for the spreadsheet to make an error due to an improper input, you can limit the inputs to a cell by utilizing Data Validation.

Allowable inputs are: Full numbers higher or lower than a number or concerning two numbers Decimals better or less than a quantity or between two numbers Values within a listing Dates Times Text of a Distinct Length An Input that Meets a Custom Formula Data Validation might be located beneath Data>Data Resources from the ribbon.

http://bloge.webblogg.se/2018/june/9-smarter-tips-on-how-to-use-excel-for-engineering.html

[velveteenau-blog1]

How To Get A Great Guitar Sound In The Studio

Reading Time: 10-12 Minutes

Hey all, Brad Simons here again. As a guitar player, getting an awesome tone is very important to me, and also one of my favourite things to do. As with most things we do in the studio, there are a million and one ways to get an awesome sounding guitar tone. However, I’m going to go through my process, and I hope that it lays down some principles that you can use with your process. Let’s dive in.

Choosing The Right Guitar And Amp

As with anything in making music, the source has to sound great or you’re done before you even got started. And not only that, it has to be appropriate, although that part can be subjective. But let’s be honest, in general, a 5150 on hi-gain has no place in traditional country music. So picking the right equipment is essential.

So let’s start with the amp. In general, tube amps are going to do the job better than solid state. Yes, I know that solid state amps have come a long way, but based on my experience, tube amps, in general, do a better job when a microphone is in front of them. There’s something in the harmonic overtones that come across stronger, fuller and more vibrant. Some of my favourites include:

65 Amps Soho - good clean and low gain applications, class A tubes, 20-watt power section, very warm and spanky

Fender DeVille - Awesome go-to amp, great for country, jazz, blues, pop-rock, etc.

Mesa Dual Rectifier - Love it or hate, this amp gets high gain done well. There are specific models that do the job better than others, but this amp always delivers what it does it's intending to.

Bogner Ecstasy - Well rounded amp, but really pulls off the hi-gain stuff in a spectacular way.

There are a lot of amp simulators that are really getting close to convincing these days. BiasFX and BiasAmp, Fractal Audio’s AxeFx series, and even some of UAD Emulations are really making great headway. I can really only seem to make these work well in pre-production, as there just not quite there yet for me. But I’m sure it won’t be long before these software applications sound just as good. And to be fair, I think in some genres they already do! Djent seems to be primarily AxeFx, for instance.

How about the guitar? Well, this one is a lot more open to different options I would argue, as it really depends what you’re looking for. I’m going to generalize this by saying that you need something with quality craftsmanship, great pickups, and great wood. We’ll stop there. Here are some of my favourites to use in the studio:

Fender Telecaster - The classic Telecaster, great for country, pop rock, blues, jazz, very versatile. Depending on the pickups too, you can get some heavy tones out of it.

Gibson Les Paul - Another classic, provides a thicker and warmer tone than the Telecaster, great for rock, blues, some metal.

Suhr Classic S - This is a new one in our studio and man what an incredible guitar it is. Amazing for pop, blues, rock, jazz, and some heavier stuff.

Ibanez - I’m not gonna mention specific model here, but clients looking for heavier tones have been bringing some 6 and 7 string Ibanez guitars that are just incredible sounding for metal/djent genres.

Again, no hard fast rules, there’s obviously A LOT of options between those ones I mentioned, but those ones always deliver. Always make sure that you have the right equipment and that the rig is sounding great before you go any further.

Microphone Choice And Placement

Let’s start capturing the sound. Microphone choice is essential in getting the tone you have put together in the previous step. You’ll be surprised how much to the tone can change based on what microphones you use, how you’ve placed them, and how they blend together. Here are a few microphones that work great:

Shure SM57 - The standard. This should definitely be an option in your mic locker.

Shure SM7b - I find this is an awesome alternative to the 57, I find it a bit warmer in the mids, a little bit smoother and less “fizzy”.

Sennheiser MD421 - While I’m not overly fond of this mic on its own for guitars, it blends very well with both mics above

Sennheiser e609 - This mic was designed for guitar amps and brass instruments. Great for picking up the low mids, and has a super-cardioid pattern, making it a very tight sound.

Royer r121 - If you’re looking for a warm and creamy guitar tone, this is the one. The 121 is a ribbon mic but can handle a high SPL, making it the perfect ribbon mic for a loud guitar amp.

Now, where do you put the mics? And which ones do you choose? The latter is a more difficult answer to give. I’m going to provide a few ways I do it and some general principles, and then you can.

So first let’s talk about the placement of each microphone in reference to the speaker. So in general, the closer to the dust cap (centre of the speaker), the brighter the tone, the closer to the edge of the speaker, the darker the tone. In addition, each area of the speaker has different characteristics with each mic. For instance, I find the SM57 thin and harsh when directly on the dust cap, but great when positioned on the edge of the dust cap instead. In fact, I generally like starting at the edge of the dust cap. You can try angling the microphone on a 45-degree angle to the cabinet. I find this reduces some of the harshness of certain microphones as the sound is not coming in directly in front of the capsule (assuming cardioid pattern).

Another thing to consider is using multiple microphones. I would argue that generally, two mics are the way to go. I went through a phase (no pun intended) where I used three, and I found that I got a woofy, muddy sound as the low mids started to accumulate. I think in general, you’ll see the mid-range get thicker with multiple microphones, and you’ll get a bit of a thinner tone with a single microphone. Use this to your advantage in whatever context you need.

Also, whenever you’re using multiple microphones on a guitar amp, you’ll have to consider the phase. Note that position of the capsule in each microphone will be variable. Therefore just shoving each microphone up to the grill of the cabinet does not guarantee you’ll be in the best phase. For example, the capsule in the SM7b is much further back than the SM57. I typically have the SM7b right against the grill and the 57 back a half inch or so. Get to know each microphone and this will just become second nature.

You can do a null test when multi-miking to get the best phase possible. What is a null test? You’ll set the first microphone up where you like the tone. Then you’ll set up the second microphone, flip the phase on it, and move it around the cabinet until you find the quietest spot. This means that the waveform from each microphone is close to 180 degrees out of phase. So when you flip the phase back on the second mic, you’ll have an excellent phase relationship. You can do this by sending white noise to the amp or having the guitar player play full chords while testing. I have to admit, I don’t do null testing anymore, but it was an essential part of my guitar setup when I started. I do not think it’s a necessary step, but it’s a good tool to have in your toolbox.

After all that, here are some of the setups I use:

SM57 and MD421 - This is the classic standard two mic approach. These microphones really compliment each other, giving a nice round and full guitar sound. It is a tad on the brighter side of things. Note that the capsule on the 421 is slightly further back than the 57. So try putting it slightly ahead of 57 (hardly any) to get the phase right. I point both of these microphones at the edge of the dust cap for my taste. You can also try angling the 57 at 45 degrees.

SM7b and MD421 - Swap out the 57 for the SM7b and you’ll get a more mid-range heavy tone, something that sits down in the mix a little bit better.

SM57 and R121 - This setup can be really cool, you’ll get the fizzy bright top end of the SM57 and the warmth of the R121, which creates a really interesting blend.

SM57 on angle and e609 - These mics I wouldn’t normally pair together, but I like the sound of the 57 on 45-degree angle mixed with e609. There’s something meaty and barky about this tone that can really work nicely in a rock mix.

Single SM57 or SM7b - Sometimes you need the guitar to sound a little smaller in the mix, but still poke through in an effective way. I find that these two microphones work best when just using a single microphone. SM57 for something a bit more aggressive, SM7b for something a bit more midrange heavy. No phase issues here!

Well that concludes this post. I appreciate you reading into how I go about tracking guitars. As always at Velveteen, we really believe in a collaborative environment, sharing information helps all of us make better music. So, if you have any tips or techniques you’d like to share please comment below, email us, comment on our social, just let us know! Let’s get a conversation going.

Thanks for reading! Brad Simons 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio. He produces with the duo Towers and plays in his own project called Optics.

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[boxession]

I’d like to say a big thank you to Ruby at Box Me Beautiful for sending me this amazing box to review. When I heard that this box is a cosmetics, bath, body and beauty box service designed specifically for people with olive, Asian and darker skin tones I was over the moon to be reviewing it! I’ve found with other beauty boxes I am sent shades and colours of products that either don’t match, or aren’t suited to my skin tone so to have a box that has items handpicked and that are designed to compliment my skin tone is an exciting thought!

If you missed the live unboxing you can catch it here:

What’s inside the box?

Packaged in a neat little black box with the Box Me Beautiful logo and sealed with a pretty black ribbon are:

Eyeko Black Magic Drama & Curl Mascara 4ml RRP £10

Sacha Cosmetics Intense Lipstick RRP £10

Sleek Kajal Eyeliner RRP £4.99

Sleek Sweet Cheeks Blush Stick RRP £5.49

L’Oreal Infallible Lip Liner RRP £4.22

Ancient Wisdom Sweet Almond Oil RRP £4.67

Lakshmi’s Cupboard Amla Shampoo/Conditioner 100ml RRP $5.50 (approx.£3.89)

Extras: 2 x Taylors Assam tea sachets, 2 x Lindt chocolate and Bindis

Cost of box: £25 for a one off limited-edition box

Delivery: + £3.00 for standard delivery (3-4 days) or £4.00 for next day delivery via Royal mail. Delivery also available world-wide for additional postage.

Value of box: Roughly £45

Total Savings of approximately £20!

**TO SAVE AN EXTRA 10% USE OUR EXCLUSIVE CODE – BOX10**

Eyeko Black Magic Drama & Curl Mascara

Eyeko is a brand I have used many times before, and is a must for mascara lovers. This Mascara includes the unique Eyeko Shield for enhanced application; this unique beauty tool is designed to maximise length and minimise smudges. Simply pop behind the lashes and sweep the mascara brush upwards to coat from root to tip. Will not flake or transfer under eyes and the squeezy tube minimises waste – definitely an essential in my makeup bag! The mascara is 4ml so perfect to carry around in your handbag for touch ups or to use when travelling.

Sacha Cosmetics Intense Lipstick

Not a brand I’d heard of before but I’m always excited to find and try new brands and products. I received the shade ‘Ex in the city’ which is a deep dark red – a colour that I absolutely fallen in love with! The colour is bold and the application is extremely smooth. The formula is buildable and the colour becomes more intense with every stroke. Definitely a colour suited to beautiful dark-skinned women and one that I will be using again.

Sleek Kajal Eyeliner

Being Asian, I am all too familiar with Kajal eyeliners as they were one of the first products my mum purchased for me when I first became interested in makeup. I really liked the packaging, it arrived in a thick black plastic casing with a ribbon attached to one end that you pull to release the liner. I received the shade ‘Odyssey’ which is a very pigmented purple with a slight silvery shimmer to it. Not a colour I would usually reach for but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. It glides on effortlessly, emphasising the eyes. Very easy to use and versatile; can be smudged to give a smokey dramatic look or even applied as eyeshadow. I actually quite liked this. I wouldn’t normally wear a colour like this so was surprised to find that it did suit me so I give it a big thumbs up!

Sleek Sweet Cheeks Blush Stick

A gel blush in the shade ‘Hullabaloo’ from the whimsical wonderland limited edition collection. Glides on with ease, looks very bright when first applied but once it’s blended in, it leaves a sheer soft pink dewy effect on the skin. I tried blending with a brush but found it blended better using my fingers. One thing I didn’t expect from this which was a nice surprise is the smell of the blush stick. It is called sweet cheeks and does smell likes sweets or like cherryade.

L’Oreal Infallible Lip Liner

  I think this lip liner would work well with all lipsticks. It is transparent and in the shade ‘Sheer Fidelity’ and it is a soft textured crayon that you twist. This product is quite stylish looking and doesn’t need to be sharpened which I find quite handy. The lip liner did well in defining my lips and preventing my lipstick from feathering and bleeding. I didn’t have it on all day so I’m unable to say if it has long lasting effects or not, but overall a good product and I would be inclined to use it again.

Ancient Wisdom Sweet Almond Oil

I use coconut oil quite regularly on the dry skin on my legs, so to receive an alternative product is always a good thing in my eyes. On the back of the bottle the instructions say that it can be diluted with essential oils to use on the skin. Essential oils need a quality base oil and the sweet almond oil is an ideal choice for this. The sweet almond oil is a natural, cold pressed oil with a neutral aroma so mixing with essential oils you can create your own blend of aromatherapy oils to suit your mood. The softening and nourishing effects of sweet almond oil mean it can be used alone as a face or body oil. Very pleased with this product, I would definitely look into buying more.

Lakshmi’s Cupboard Amla Shampoo/Conditioner

I have heard lots of good things about shampoo bars but have not had the chance to try one until now! The bar can be used as either a shampoo or conditioner. I decided to use as a conditioner as I thought this would have better results. It is a low lather bar so didn’t bubble up as much as you would expect it to. It also started to melt quite quickly so I would recommend maybe breaking pieces off to use bit by bit. The bar contains shea butter and l felt it made a difference to my hair as a result it was left feeling very soft and shiny. I will definitely be trying out other shampoo bars to see if I get the same results. The only down side to this bar is the size, although handy to travel with I don’t think it will last very long as it is quite small.

  Extras

I love a box with little extras in and this box does not disappoint with that. The extras included 2 Assam teas, 2 Lindor chocolates and some very colourful bindis. I am an avid tea drinker so was very happy in receiving the tea bags. Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, in India. It is a strong malty black tea.

Lindt is one of my favourite chocolate brands so these did not last long as they were gobbled up within minutes of opening the box.

A bindi is usually a bright dot of red colour applied in the centre of the forehead close to the eyebrows worn in the Indian subcontinent. Traditionally, the area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, the seat of “concealed wisdom”. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration and also represents the third eye. I only ever wear bindis for special occasions and as I don’t currently own any at the moment I will certainly be making use of these.

Verdict:

A variety of different products with brands I am both familiar and unfamiliar with. This box is all about diversity and different cultures coming together. It is full of items from different countries – USA, Trinidad & Tobago and India which I think is a really nice touch. I especially loved the little extras put in as it shows the care put into making this box. I think it is excellent value for money as there is so much in this box – there are 7 beauty products plus the little extras, which is a lot more than I was expecting. I love how it is tailored to suit darker skin tones as there are hardly any boxes available that do that. This box certainly impressed me.

If you’d like to know about box me beautiful check out their social media links:

https://boxmebeautiful.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/boxmebeautiful/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/boxmebeautiful/

Thank you for reading,

Nazia xx

Box Me Beautiful Review by Nazia – January 2018 I’d like to say a big thank you to Ruby at Box Me Beautiful for sending me this amazing box to review.

[myowneviltwin-blog]

9 Smarter Ways to use Excel for Engineering

As an engineer, you’re quite possibly making use of Excel essentially every day. It does not matter what marketplace you are in; Excel is made use of All over the place in engineering. Excel is known as a massive plan which has a lot of good prospective, but how do you know if you’re by using it to its fullest capabilities? These 9 tips can help you begin to get just about the most out of Excel for engineering. 1. Convert Units devoid of External Tools If you are like me, you almost certainly work with several units each day. It’s one particular of the wonderful annoyances with the engineering daily life. But, it’s turn out to be substantially much less annoying due to a perform in Excel which can do the grunt operate for you: CONVERT. It is syntax is: Like to learn about all the more about innovative Excel strategies? View my free of cost education only for engineers. Within the three-part video series I will explain to you how you can fix complex engineering difficulties in Excel. Click here to acquire started out. CONVERT(amount, from_unit, to_unit) Wherever number could be the value that you simply just want to convert, from_unit would be the unit of number, and to_unit may be the resulting unit you need to obtain. Now, you will no longer need to go to outside equipment to locate conversion elements, or very difficult code the elements into your spreadsheets to trigger confusion later. Just let the CONVERT perform do the perform to suit your needs. You’ll find a total checklist of base units that Excel recognizes as “from_unit” and “to_unit” here (warning: not all units can be found in earlier versions of Excel), but you may also make use of the perform a number of occasions to convert alot more complicated units which can be normal in engineering.

two. Use Named Ranges to generate Formulas Less difficult to comprehend Engineering is tough sufficient, without having trying to figure out what an equation like (G15+$C$4)/F9-H2 means. To eliminate the ache related with Excel cell references, use Named Ranges to produce variables that you can use as part of your formulas.

Not just do they make it easier to enter formulas into a spreadsheet, nevertheless they make it Much simpler to understand the formulas while you or another person opens the spreadsheet weeks, months, or years later.

There can be some different ways to produce Named Ranges, but these two are my favorites:

For “one-off” variables, choose the cell that you simply desire to assign a variable identify to, then style the identify on the variable from the name box during the upper left corner of your window (beneath the ribbon) as shown above. If you wish to assign variables to quite a few names at once, and also have previously included the variable identify within a column or row following towards the cell containing the value, do that: To begin with, pick the cells containing the names as well as cells you desire to assign the names. Then navigate to Formulas>Defined Names>Create from Selection. If you should want to master extra, you may go through all about making named ranges from choices right here. Do you want to understand even more about superior Excel ways? Watch my totally free, three-part video series just for engineers. In it I’ll show you ways to solve a complex engineering challenge in Excel working with a few of these procedures and even more. Click here to have started. 3. Update Charts Instantly with Dynamic Titles, Axes, and Labels To create it painless to update chart titles, axis titles, and labels you are able to website link them right to cells. Should you want for making quite a bit of charts, this will be a actual time-saver and could also potentially assist you to keep away from an error while you neglect to update a chart title. To update a chart title, axis, or label, primary generate the text that you choose to incorporate in the single cell on the worksheet. You possibly can use the CONCATENATE function to assemble text strings and numeric cell values into complicated titles. Following, pick the part within the chart. Then go to the formula bar and kind “=” and select the cell containing the text you want to utilize.

Now, the chart part will instantly when the cell worth improvements. You will get creative right here and pull all types of facts in to the chart, without any having to fret about painstaking chart updates later. It’s all performed automatically!

4. Hit the Target with Aim Seek Generally, we setup spreadsheets to calculate a outcome from a series of input values. But what if you’ve executed this inside a spreadsheet and need to know what input worth will obtain a wanted result?

You could possibly rearrange the equations and make the outdated end result the brand new input as well as old input the new consequence. You might also just guess at the input until you accomplish the target result. Luckily even though, neither of people are critical, for the reason that Excel includes a tool called Purpose Look for to do the function for you.

Primary, open the Aim Look for device: Data>Forecast>What-If Analysis>Goal Look for. Inside the Input for “Set Cell:”, pick the consequence cell for which you recognize the target. In “To Worth:”, enter the target worth. Ultimately, in “By changing cell:” pick the single input you would like to modify to alter the consequence. Decide on Okay, and Excel iterates to uncover the correct input to realize the target. 5. Reference Information Tables in Calculations 1 from the elements that makes Excel a fantastic engineering tool is it happens to be capable of handling the two equations and tables of data. And also you can mix these two functionalities to create powerful engineering models by on the lookout up data from tables and pulling it into calculations. You are very likely by now acquainted with all the lookup functions VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. In lots of cases, they will do all the things you would like.

Nonetheless, in case you will need a lot more flexibility and better handle over your lookups use INDEX and MATCH as a substitute. These two functions allow you to lookup information in any column or row of a table (not just the initial one), and you can handle regardless if the value returned will be the upcoming greatest or smallest. You can also use INDEX and MATCH to carry out linear interpolation on the set of data. That is completed by taking advantage from the versatility of this lookup technique to locate the x- and y-values immediately ahead of and after the target x-value.

six. Accurately Match Equations to Data An additional strategy to use present information in the calculation should be to match an equation to that data and utilize the equation to determine the y-value to get a given worth of x. Many people know how to extract an equation from information by plotting it on a scatter chart and incorporating a trendline. That’s Okay for having a swift and dirty equation, or understand what kind of perform very best fits the information. Then again, should you would like to use that equation in your spreadsheet, you will require to enter it manually. This can end result in mistakes from typos or forgetting to update the equation when the information is changed. A much better approach to get the equation could be to use the LINEST function. It is an array function that returns the coefficients (m and b) that define the very best fit line by a data set. Its syntax is:

LINEST(known_y’s, [known_x’s], [const], [stats])

The place: known_y’s would be the array of y-values as part of your data, known_x’s will be the array of x-values, const is known as a logical worth that tells Excel no matter if to force the y-intercept to be equal to zero, and stats specifies irrespective of whether to return regression statistics, such as R-squared, etc.

LINEST could be expanded beyond linear information sets to perform nonlinear regression on data that fits polynomial, exponential, logarithmic and electrical power functions. It might even be applied for several linear regression also.

7. Conserve Time with User-Defined Functions Excel has a lot of built-in functions at your disposal by default. But, if you happen to are like me, there can be a lot of calculations you finish up executing repeatedly that don’t have a certain function in Excel. They are wonderful scenarios to create a User Defined Perform (UDF) in Excel implementing Visual Essential for Applications, or VBA, the built-in programming language for Workplace products.

Really do not be intimidated while you read “programming”, even though. I’m NOT a programmer by trade, but I use VBA all the time to broaden Excel’s abilities and save myself time. In case you prefer to understand to create User Defined Functions and unlock the massive probable of Excel with VBA, click right here to go through about how I produced a UDF from scratch to determine bending pressure.

eight. Complete Calculus Operations After you consider of Excel, you could not think “calculus”. But if you've tables of information you'll be able to use numerical analysis solutions to determine the derivative or integral of that data.

These exact same primary approaches are utilized by a lot more complex engineering software package to carry out these operations, and so they are effortless to duplicate in Excel.

To calculate derivatives, you may utilize the both forward, backward, or central distinctions. Each of those techniques employs data from the table to calculate dy/dx, the only differences are which data points are utilised to the calculation.

For forward differences, utilize the information at point n and n+1 For backward distinctions, make use of the information at factors n and n-1 For central distinctions, use n-1 and n+1, as shown beneath

For those who have to have to integrate information in a spreadsheet, the trapezoidal rule operates very well. This method calculates the spot under the curve among xn and xn+1. If yn and yn+1 are various values, the place types a trapezoid, hence the identify.

9. Troubleshoot Lousy Spreadsheets with Excel’s Auditing Equipment Each and every engineer has inherited a “broken” spreadsheet. If it is from a co-worker, you can normally ask them to repair it and send it back. But what if your spreadsheet comes from your boss, or worse yet, someone who is no longer together with the business?

Quite often, this can be a actual nightmare, but Excel presents some tools which can make it easier to straighten a misbehaving spreadsheet. Each and every of those resources might be present in the Formulas tab within the ribbon, while in the Formula Auditing part:

When you can see, there are actually a number of several resources here. I’ll cover two of them.

Initial, you are able to use Trace Dependents to find the inputs towards the picked cell. This could assist you track down the place every one of the input values are coming from, if it is not evident.

Many instances, this may lead you on the source of the error all by itself. When you are done, click take out arrows to clean the arrows from your spreadsheet.

You can also utilize the Evaluate Formula instrument to determine the outcome of the cell - 1 stage at a time. This is often beneficial for all formulas, but mainly for those that have logic functions or countless nested functions:

ten. BONUS TIP: Use Information Validation to prevent Spreadsheet Mistakes Here’s a bonus tip that ties in together with the final one particular. (Any one who gets ahold of the spreadsheet within the long term will value it!) If you are setting up an engineering model in Excel and you observe that there's a chance for the spreadsheet to produce an error caused by an improper input, you can restrict the inputs to a cell by utilizing Information Validation.

Allowable inputs are: Full numbers higher or less than a quantity or between two numbers Decimals better or lower than a number or between two numbers Values within a listing Dates Times Text of a Certain Length An Input that Meets a Customized Formula Data Validation may be uncovered underneath Data>Data Tools during the ribbon.

planilha de orçamento de obra

[myowneviltwin-blog]

9 SMARTER Strategies to USE EXCEL FOR ENGINEERING

As an engineer, you are perhaps implementing Excel nearly day after day. It doesn’t matter what sector that you're in; Excel is implemented Everywhere in engineering. Excel can be a enormous program by using a good deal of fantastic probable, but how do you know if you’re applying it to its fullest capabilities? These 9 strategies can help you start to acquire just about the most out of Excel for engineering. 1. Convert Units without having External Resources If you are like me, you most likely deliver the results with numerous units day-to-day. It’s one on the excellent annoyances of your engineering lifestyle. But, it’s end up being very much less annoying thanks to a perform in Excel that could do the grunt deliver the results for you personally: CONVERT. It is syntax is: Wish to learn about all the more about superior Excel techniques? Watch my free of cost education just for engineers. During the three-part video series I will show you the way to solve complex engineering issues in Excel. Click right here to acquire started. CONVERT(quantity, from_unit, to_unit) Where quantity certainly is the worth which you desire to convert, from_unit stands out as the unit of number, and to_unit is the resulting unit you want to obtain. Now, you will no longer need to visit outdoors equipment to search out conversion things, or hard code the elements into your spreadsheets to induce confusion later on. Just allow the CONVERT function do the operate to suit your needs. You’ll discover a finish record of base units that Excel recognizes as “from_unit” and “to_unit” right here (warning: not all units are available in earlier versions of Excel), but you can also make use of the perform multiple occasions to convert far more complex units which have been standard in engineering.

two. Use Named Ranges for making Formulas Easier to know Engineering is demanding adequate, without having trying to determine what an equation like (G15+$C$4)/F9-H2 means. To wipe out the soreness connected with Excel cell references, use Named Ranges to make variables that you just can use as part of your formulas.

Not simply do they make it easier to enter formulas into a spreadsheet, however they make it Easier to comprehend the formulas while you or someone else opens the spreadsheet weeks, months, or many years later.

You'll find a handful of other ways to produce Named Ranges, but these two are my favorites:

For “one-off” variables, pick the cell that you just prefer to assign a variable identify to, then sort the name with the variable from the title box from the upper left corner of your window (below the ribbon) as proven above. If you prefer to assign variables to countless names at the moment, and also have presently incorporated the variable name in a column or row following towards the cell containing the value, do this: To begin with, select the cells containing the names as well as the cells you would like to assign the names. Then navigate to Formulas>Defined Names>Create from Choice. In the event you want to find out more, you possibly can read all about generating named ranges from selections right here. Would you like to learn all the more about state-of-the-art Excel tactics? View my free of charge, three-part video series only for engineers. In it I’ll show you the right way to solve a complicated engineering challenge in Excel using a few of these procedures and much more. Click right here to have started. three. Update Charts Instantly with Dynamic Titles, Axes, and Labels For making it straightforward to update chart titles, axis titles, and labels you possibly can link them immediately to cells. If you should need to have for making quite a lot of charts, this may be a authentic time-saver and could also potentially help you to prevent an error as soon as you fail to remember to update a chart title. To update a chart title, axis, or label, primary build the text that you just want to include things like in a single cell on the worksheet. You may utilize the CONCATENATE function to assemble text strings and numeric cell values into complicated titles. Subsequent, choose the part for the chart. Then visit the formula bar and form “=” and choose the cell containing the text you desire to implement.

Now, the chart element will immediately when the cell value changes. You can get creative here and pull all forms of information and facts in to the chart, devoid of owning to stress about painstaking chart updates later. It is all completed automatically!

four. Hit the Target with Intention Seek Usually, we set up spreadsheets to calculate a end result from a series of input values. But what if you’ve carried out this inside a spreadsheet and desire to understand what input worth will gain a preferred outcome?

You could rearrange the equations and make the old consequence the new input as well as the outdated input the new outcome. You may also just guess on the input until finally you acquire the target consequence. The good news is however, neither of those are necessary, considering that Excel features a instrument termed Target Look for to complete the operate to suit your needs.

Very first, open the Objective Seek device: Data>Forecast>What-If Analysis>Goal Look for. Within the Input for “Set Cell:”, pick the result cell for which you recognize the target. In “To Worth:”, enter the target value. Finally, in “By transforming cell:” decide on the single input you'll want to modify to change the result. Select Ok, and Excel iterates to discover the correct input to attain the target. five. Reference Data Tables in Calculations One particular on the items that makes Excel an excellent engineering device is that it truly is capable of managing the two equations and tables of information. And you can combine these two functionalities to create strong engineering models by wanting up information from tables and pulling it into calculations. You’re quite possibly presently familiar together with the lookup functions VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. In many situations, they are able to do every little thing you would like.

Nonetheless, should you have additional flexibility and better management above your lookups use INDEX and MATCH as an alternative. These two functions permit you to lookup information in any column or row of a table (not just the initial 1), and you can management regardless if the worth returned is the subsequent biggest or smallest. You can even use INDEX and MATCH to perform linear interpolation on a set of data. This can be completed by taking advantage of the versatility of this lookup process to seek out the x- and y-values without delay just before and following the target x-value.

6. Accurately Fit Equations to Data A different approach to use present data in the calculation could be to match an equation to that information and make use of the equation to find out the y-value for any offered value of x. Plenty of people know how to extract an equation from data by plotting it on the scatter chart and incorporating a trendline. That is Okay for acquiring a fast and dirty equation, or know what sort of function most beneficial fits the data. But, for those who choose to use that equation within your spreadsheet, you’ll want to enter it manually. This can end result in errors from typos or forgetting to update the equation once the information is transformed. A greater option to get the equation should be to utilize the LINEST function. It’s an array function that returns the coefficients (m and b) that define one of the best match line by a data set. Its syntax is:

LINEST(known_y’s, [known_x’s], [const], [stats])

Where: known_y’s may be the array of y-values in your data, known_x’s is the array of x-values, const can be a logical worth that tells Excel if to force the y-intercept to get equal to zero, and stats specifies regardless of whether to return regression statistics, such as R-squared, and so on.

LINEST could very well be expanded beyond linear information sets to perform nonlinear regression on data that fits polynomial, exponential, logarithmic and energy functions. It could even be implemented for many linear regression at the same time.

seven. Conserve Time with User-Defined Functions Excel has several built-in functions at your disposal by default. But, if you are like me, you can find a large number of calculations you finish up accomplishing repeatedly that do not have a particular function in Excel. They are fantastic predicaments to make a User Defined Perform (UDF) in Excel utilizing Visual Standard for Applications, or VBA, the built-in programming language for Workplace products.

Don’t be intimidated once you read “programming”, even though. I’m NOT a programmer by trade, but I use VBA on a regular basis to increase Excel’s capabilities and save myself time. Should you like to know to create Consumer Defined Functions and unlock the massive possible of Excel with VBA, click here to read through about how I designed a UDF from scratch to determine bending worry.

eight. Execute Calculus Operations If you suppose of Excel, it's possible you'll not believe “calculus”. But when you've tables of information you could use numerical examination tactics to calculate the derivative or integral of that information.

These similar essential ways are used by alot more complex engineering program to carry out these operations, and they are straightforward to duplicate in Excel.

To determine derivatives, you'll be able to utilize the either forward, backward, or central variations. Each of these strategies employs data in the table to determine dy/dx, the only differences are which data factors are employed for your calculation.

For forward differences, utilize the data at point n and n+1 For backward variations, make use of the data at points n and n-1 For central distinctions, use n-1 and n+1, as proven beneath

If you ever will need to integrate data in the spreadsheet, the trapezoidal rule will work nicely. This procedure calculates the spot under the curve among xn and xn+1. If yn and yn+1 are numerous values, the region varieties a trapezoid, consequently the name.

9. Troubleshoot Terrible Spreadsheets with Excel’s Auditing Equipment Each engineer has inherited a “broken” spreadsheet. If it’s from a co-worker, you may at all times request them to repair it and send it back. But what if your spreadsheet originates from your boss, or worse however, someone that is no longer together with the service?

Quite often, this can be a genuine nightmare, but Excel provides some tools which can help you to straighten a misbehaving spreadsheet. Just about every of those tools could very well be found in the Formulas tab within the ribbon, during the Formula Auditing area:

When you can see, you can find a number of numerous equipment here. I’ll cover two of them.

Initially, you can use Trace Dependents to find the inputs on the selected cell. This could help you to track down exactly where the many input values are coming from, if it’s not apparent.

A number of instances, this could lead you to the source of the error all by itself. When you are completed, click remove arrows to clean the arrows out of your spreadsheet.

You can also use the Evaluate Formula tool to calculate the consequence of a cell - 1 phase at a time. This is often beneficial for all formulas, but notably for anyone that contain logic functions or several nested functions:

10. BONUS TIP: Use Data Validation to avoid Spreadsheet Mistakes Here’s a bonus tip that ties in using the last one. (Any person who will get ahold of one's spreadsheet while in the long term will value it!) If you’re constructing an engineering model in Excel and also you observe that there is a chance for that spreadsheet to make an error as a result of an improper input, you could limit the inputs to a cell through the use of Information Validation.

Allowable inputs are: Full numbers greater or less than a amount or amongst two numbers Decimals greater or lower than a quantity or involving two numbers Values within a list Dates Instances Text of the Specific Length An Input that Meets a Customized Formula Data Validation might be found underneath Data>Data Resources in the ribbon.

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