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- Tau, version 1.50
-
- Copyright © Tim Birks 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001
- GPL Freeware: for conditions of use, see the files ReadMe & gpl.txt
- Current development Peter Killworth 2001-2005 (p.killworth@noc.soton.ac.uk)
-
- Desktop graph preparation software. Tau generates publication-quality graphs
- in the form of Draw files, ready to import into your favourite
- word-processor, computer presentation, or DTP. A data worksheet (16 columns
- by 4096 rows) can be filled by keying-in, importing from a file, and/or
- calculation. You determine line patterns and thicknesses, colours, text
- positioning and font sizes, etc. The data worksheet can be redimensioned, if
- you would prefer more rows of data for example.
-
- Note that Tau does not (usually) draw graphs on the screen (Acorn's excellent
- Draw or similar applications will do that). In the following text, all
- references to 'drawing' or 'plotting' a graph refer to the construction of a
- Draw file.
-
- This file is intended to be some kind of help, but no way is it
- comprehensive. It assumes some experience with graph drawing packages, common
- sense, and a willingness to suck-it-and-see.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Important changes from version 1.30.
-
- A new feature has been added. While !Tau has always been able to plot
- multiple data with the same x-values, there are occasions, particularly
- when working with observed data, in which one has several sets of (x, y) data
- which need plotting on the same graph. In previous versions, the workaround
- has been to plot each pair separately and superimpose the graphs afterwards,
- which isn’t very neat. In 1.40 one can turn on "Many Xs" which allows each y
- column of data to have a specific x column associated with it for all
- plotting purposes; they can all be plotted simultaneously.
-
- An improvement has been made to log scaling, and an obscure bug in data
- import has been fixed.
-
- In 1.41 the ability to specify suffices k, M, G and T for thousands,
- millions, billions and, er, whatever comes next has been added.
-
- In 1.50, the ability to specify colours in 24-bit modes is included.
- The user can specify colours for the line and/or character and/or fill
- for each set of y-values (already added in 1.30). In addition, the colour
- for the frame (axes, labels and annotations), for a possible background
- fill of the graph, and for the border and fill of the graph key (if
- selected) can also be chosen and stored in style files. In 256-colour
- modes, !Tau does what it can to represent the 24-bit colours, like
- any other application.
-
- Important changes from version 1.20.
-
- The resizable worksheet has been doubled in size again (assuming most users
- can cope with a 640k Wimpslot). With an eye towards computer presentations,
- where colour replaces linestyles, both lines and symbols can be in any desktop
- colour. Linestyles are now user-definable (lengths and gaps can be specified).
- The F3 key has been enabled for quick saves to Drawfiles. The best fit
- option now shows the equation for the fit, and the correlation. A facility
- for globally editing data has been added (useful if a certain data value has
- the meaning "no or missing data". The key now has a black rectangle
- around it, with a white background (so can be moved over the graph without
- any of the graph showing through).
-
- Important changes from version 1.10.
-
- Actually, there are quite a few changes, like the resizable worksheet (with
- twice the previous capacity), and the Plot (many) option. The most
- significant change is that the TauFile and TauStyle formats are different.
- Old-type files can be read by Tau 1.20, but the new-type files cannot be
- read by Tau 1.10 and earlier versions. In other words, if you get rid of
- your old version of Tau there shouldn't be any problems.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Starting Tau.
-
- Double-click on the !Tau icon in a filer window, or double-click on the icon
- of a file of type 082 (TauFile) or 083 (TauStyle). The Tau icon is installed
- on the icon bar, and the application's main window opens, showing the data
- worksheet (dark blue background) with labelling (grey background) along the
- top and left edges.
- If starting by a double-click on a TauFile or TauStyle, that file is loaded
- into Tau. If starting by a double-click on the !Tau icon itself, Tau looks
- for a TauFile or TauStyle called "Default" within the !Tau directory and
- loads that. If there is no such file, Tau starts with its worksheet empty
- and with minimal appearance data.
- Assuming there are no data initially (usually the case), then simply drag in
- a text file with some data columns. If the first of these represents the
- x-axis for your plot, and the remainder represent the y-axis (or -axes if
- you wish to plot more than one simultaneously), then bringing up the save
- option on the main menu and saving as a drawfile will give you a
- publishable graph right away.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Default settings.
-
- There are three ways Tau can get its default settings when it is started.
- These include the graph style parameters, and also other things like
- whether the user is prompted if unsaved data is about to be lost (hidden,
- a little unhelpfully, in the Reduce menu from historical times), and
- whether Tau automatically scales your graph.
-
- 1) If Tau is started by double-clicking on a TauFile or TauStyle icon, the
- defaults are set to the values stored in the file.
-
- 2) If Tau is started "empty", by double-clicking on the !Tau icon, the
- defaults are obtained from a file called "Default" within the !Tau
- directory. If you would like to use your own set of defaults, just put them
- in a TauStyle file and save it as "Default" in the !Tau directory.
-
- 3) If there is no file "Default" in the !Tau directory and Tau is started
- by double-clicking on the !Tau icon, a set of default defaults from within
- the program is used.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Editing data.
-
- The data worksheet is arranged in 16 columns, each containing 4096 rows of
- cells. The cells can be filled with data by importing from a file (see
- below), by calculation (see below), or from the keyboard. Click on the
- appropriate cell with Select to set the caret and highlight. You can then
- edit the contents of the cell. Valid contents are: a number (use 'E' for
- exponential notation; 'D' and lowercase are also understood); no contents
- (blank cell); or the special entry 'M'(for 'move') which will cause any
- eventual line graph to have a break at that position.
- If you click on a cell with Adjust, the caret does not move, but all the
- cells in a rectangle between the caret-cell and the cell you clicked on will
- highlight. Any action performed at the caret (followed by RETURN when
- entering a number) will then affect all these cells.
- Tau keeps a note of the maximum row and column numbers for which data are held.
- If you double-click on a cell, that cell gains the caret and the whole
- column (down to the maximum row) will highlight. Double-click with SHIFT to
- highlight a whole row instead.
- Values are displayed in cells to six significant figures.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Special key presses.
-
- RETURN - Reflect the value in the current cell in all highlit cells,
- then move the caret down one row.
- SHIFT-RETURN - As RETURN, but move the caret right one column.
- CTRL-RETURN - Carriage return, move down one row, and to leftmost column.
- LEFT/RIGHT - Move caret one character left/right.
- BACKSPACE - Delete the character to the left of the caret within a cell.
- DOWN/UP - Move caret down/up one cell.
- SHIFT-DOWN/UP/LEFT/RIGHT - Extend or contract the highlit block of cells.
- CTRL-DOWN/UP - Move caret to the last/first cell in a column.
- TAB - Move caret right one cell, perform 'carriage return' if at the
- last column.
- SHIFT-TAB - Move caret left one cell, perform 'reverse carriage return' if
- at the first column.
- HOME - Move caret to the first cell in the worksheet.
- SHIFT-COPY (ie, END) - Move caret to the bottom-right-most cell of a
- rectangle enclosing all cells containing data.
- CTRL-U - Blank all highlit cells.
- DELETE - Same action as BACKSPACE.
- SHIFT-DELETE - All highlit cells in the same row as the caret are blanked,
- then all the values in the cells below these are scrolled up
- to 'fill the hole'.
- INSERT - The values in all highlit cells in the same row as the caret,
- and the cells below these, are scrolled down. A row of blank
- cells is inserted.
- F3 - Does a quick save to a Drawfile.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Dragging files onto the main window (or the icon bar icon).
- This starts a load action which depends on the filetype of the file dragged:
-
- 082 (TauFile) - A TauFile file is a complete record of a previous state of
- Tau, and includes all the data in a worksheet and the variables governing
- the appearance of a graph. Dragging a TauFile onto Tau will restore the
- saved state, overwriting all of the current state.
- 083 (TauStyle) - A TauStyle file is a TauFile file without any worksheet
- data. It replaces the variables governing the appearance of a graph, without
- overwriting the current data. It's like the 'template' files in other graph
- software, but the word 'template' already has a very particular meaning in
- RISC OS.
- ffb (BASIC) - Has no immediate effect. Tau assumes any imported BASIC file
- to be a function library. You can then perform calculations on worksheet
- data using your own defined functions. A simple example, Sinc, is provided
- with Tau - this contains a function FNsinc(x) which returns SIN(x)/x without
- generating an error at x=0. To avoid clashes with the program's internal FN
- definitions, do not use FN names beginning with capital 'T'.
- fff (Text), dfe (CSV) - Tau assumes files of these types contain textual data
- for import, either separated by spaces or commas, with row endings marked
- by one or more control characters (such a linefeed or carriage-return).
- Import *starts at the caret*; data in cells not explicitly overwritten by new
- data are retained. Incidentally, Tau treats these files identically on
- import - eg the contents of a Text file can be comma- separated. A blank
- cell can be marked by an isolated decimal '.', and a 'move' cell by 'M'.
- The Global Edit feature (below) allows for a specific value to be replaced
- by another throughout the data, which is useful if 999, or 1.E20, etc.
- are defined as "missing data".
- The fact that import starts at the caret means that several datasets
- (presumably occupying separate columns!) can easily be imported by
- positioning the caret accordingly before dragging them into !Tau.
- Other filetypes - action is normally as for fff (Text). But Tau first
- investigates whether the file might contain non-textual numerical data
- ("Binary data"). Such a file would be generated by, for example, the Basic
- PRINT# statement. Tau assumes that your file is "Binary data" if the first
- byte in the file is ascii &40, &80 or &88; no self-respecting file of
- textual data should contain any of these characters.
- Because there is no row-ending marker in such a file, Tau expects a special
- first datum in the file to be an integer specifying the number of data
- columns in one row. However, you can instead specify the number of columns
- in the Import dbox. Import starts at the caret; data not overwritten are
- retained.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Main menu.
-
- Click Menu over the main window, gives the following items:
-
- Paper - Leads to a submenu controlling the size and shape of a graph on the
- paper.
- Graph - Leads to a submenu controlling the appearance of the whole graph.
- This includes such attributes as its scaling and the appearance of ticks
- and labels, and the number of rows and columns in the worksheet.
- Column - Leads to a submenu controlling the treatment of an individual column
- of data. This includes control of the meaning of a column (use as X data, Y
- data, error bar data, or ignore), the appearance of a plot (whether to draw
- points, lines between points, etc), and actions such as calculation and
- sort.
- Save - Leads to a submenu allowing the saving of data in various ways.
- Clicking on the Save item in the Main menu will save the current Tau state
- as a TauFile, or generate an error if no pathname is specified yet.
- (F3 will do a quick save as a Drawfile.)
- Import - Leads to a dialogue box. The first part governs the import of a
- file of Binary data (see above). The second part allows you to "weed" data
- being imported, reading in only 1 row of data for each n rows of data in the
- file.
- Cells - A submenu, various ways of highlighting parts of the worksheet.
- Reduce - A submenu, various ways to shrink your data, and disable the
- warning Tau gives when edited data is about to be lost or over-written.
- View - Equivalent to clicking on the Tau icon in the left-hand corner,
- and produces a quick graph of the data.
- Many Xs – A tickable item (click on the item to choose/unchoose it). When
- unticked, a single column of data (the leftmost one labelled “X”, in fact)
- serves as the x values for all current plots. When ticked, each set of y
- data can (and must) have an x-column associated with it, so that several
- datasets with different x values can be plotted simultaneously.
- k,M,G labels - Setting this changes labels to use k (for thousands), M
- (for millions) and G (for billions) instead of E powers.
- Global Edit - Leads to a dialogue box. The user can specify a data value
- and a replacement value, which are changed globally within the data
- when "OK" is clicked. Values can be changed to missing by specifying
- full stop (period) or leaving the value blank; values can also be set
- to "m" or "M" with the standard meaning (break the plot at this point).
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Paper submenu.
-
- The items in this submenu lead to dialogue boxes. All dimensions are in
- points (1/72 inch) unless otherwise specified.
-
- + Size dbox.
- This governs the size and positioning, on paper, of the three main separate
- structures in a Tau graph. All sizes are in INCHES. (Aside, to any
- Euro-freaks: the 'inch' is a special Tau unit of length defined to be equal
- to 72 points. Happy now?)
- Graph - This is actually the size and position of the graph's viewport, ie
- the frame if one is being drawn.
- Border - You can have a border to make your graph look pretty. However, the
- main reason for having one is for grid-locking in !Draw. The average graph
- will have a well-defined frame, but also all sorts of labels and text
- hanging off it. The Draw bounding box of the graph will therefore not be
- simply related to the frame, and will vary from graph to graph. This causes
- problems when trying to arrange two or more graphs to line up nicely when
- using gridlock in Draw. So Tau can draw a big well-defined border around the
- whole lot. Then you can line your graphs up in Draw, then delete the frames
- afterwards. Since the border is meant to be a throw-away structure, it will
- always be 'thin'. That's the theory anyway; shame it doesn't work.
- Key - A simple key to the graph can be drawn. The key is a list of the Y plots
- drawn, showing the line pattern, the point shape, and a bit of text. Around
- these is a black rectangle with a white background (which ensures the key
- is visible if it is later positioned over the graph). The key is a separate
- group within the Drawfile, so if you wish to move its position within !Draw
- or any other drawing package, ungroup the whole picture and select the key
- area. Colours for the graph key (its border and background) can be
- chosen here.
-
- + Magnify dbox.
- The whole graph can be magnified (or shrunk) uniformly when saved as a Draw
- file. Enter the magnification factor here.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Graph submenu.
-
- The items in this submenu lead to dialogue boxes. All dimensions are in
- points (1/72 inch) unless otherwise specified.
-
- + Scaling dbox.
- Governs the scaling of the graph. All dimensions refer to the data in the
- worksheet.
- Auto scale - When selected, Tau takes a look at the worksheet and your other
- choices, and automatically scales the graph. Deselect it if you want to
- make any changes yourself.
- Bound - When selected, the graph will include only data points and line
- segments within the frame of the graph. Otherwise points and lines outside
- the frame will be drawn also. (The 'fill' option is disabled when bounding
- is active, as it is unlikely to be useful.)
- X/Y log scale - Whether or not a log scale is selected governs the type of
- scaling information required, below. Beware negative or zero values!
- X/Y values - Determines the range of the graph's viewport, and the
- positioning of axes within it.
- Format - Determines the appearance of numerical axis labels. The choices
- follow BASIC's @% format.
- X/Y tick spacing - Tau supports two sets of ticks on each axis, major ticks
- usually being more prominent than minor ticks. The anchor is any one value
- where a major tick is to lie. Hence if the tick spacing is '2' and the
- anchor is '5', then major ticks will be drawn at 1,3,5,7,...
- If a log scale is selected, you have several choices. Choosing any of
- the top four choices (“1, 1000”; “1, 10”; “1, 3, 10”; or “1, 2, 5, 10”)
- gives you a logarithmic tick distribution. For example, if ‘1, 3, 10’
- is selected then ticks will be drawn at 0.1, 0.3, 1,3, 10,30... and so
- on. In all these cases labels only occur at 1, 10, 100 etc.
- Alternatively, choose the ‘linear’ settings, which put ticks at 1, 2,
- 3, 4, ..., 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, ..., 80, 90, 100, 200, and so on. In
- this case, labels are put at 1, 2, and 5 in each decade.
-
- + Frame dbox.
- Governs the axis structures to be drawn. All dimensions are in points.
- A frame is a rectangular box at the edge of the graph's viewport, and
- carries ticks on all four sides. An X/Y axis is a horizontal/vertical bar
- which stretches the whole length/height of the viewport and can be
- positioned anywhere vertically/horizontally (as defined in the Scaling
- dbox).
- The colour of the axis structures (lines, labels, ticks) can be chosen. A
- background colour for the whole graph can also be chosen, provided the
- "background" box is selected.
- This dbox can be used to produce a graph with two sets of data, each with
- their own y-axes, for example. Generate one file with an axis at the left,
- containing one set of data; then generate another with an axis at the right,
- with the other set of data. Finally, superimpose the two. Mind you, the
- multiple X option is simpler...
-
- + Ticks dbox.
- Governs the appearance of axis/frame ticks. All dimensions in points.
- Tau supports two sets of ticks on each axis; major ticks usually being more
- prominent than minor ticks. Ticks on an X axis extend up and/or down. Ticks
- on a Y axis extend left and/or right. Ticks on a frame extend in and/or out.
- You can choose whether to plot a certain family of ticks at all.
-
- + Grids dbox.
- Governs the appearance of grid lines. All dimensions in points.
- Grid lines are usually broken or dashed, so you choose the dash pattern.
- Grid lines are anchored to ticks, but can omit the minor ticks.
-
- + Labels dbox.
- Governs the appearance and positioning of numerical labels on axes/frame.
- Labels can appear on axes and/or the frame.
- Below ? - When selected, labels are placed below the X axis or frame bottom
- edge. Otherwise labels are placed above the X axis or frame top edge.
- Left ? - Analogous to Below ? but for Y values.
- Minors ? - When selected, labels are placed at minor ticks as well as major
- ticks.
- Rotate ? - When selected, Y labels are written 'sideways' parallel to the
- axis or frame edge. THIS OPTION FAILS IN RISC OS 2 !!!
- Offset - The distance between the axis or frame and the label, as a fraction
- of the font height/width.
- Font Size - In points. The label font is determined in the Fonts dbox.
-
- + Texts dbox.
- Governs the appearance of textual labels on axes/frames, such as a
- description of the quantity plotted along an axis.
- plot? - Whether to draw at all.
- on Frame? - When selected, plot along the frame, else along the axis.
- below?/left?/rotate? - As in the Labels dbox.
- Offset - The distance between the frame/axis and the nearest part of the
- text, as a fraction of the font height/width.
- Spacing - The line spacing between successive lines of the text, as a
- fraction of the font height/width.
- Text - Any text you like. Include backslash characters '\' to force a line
- break.
- Font size - In points. Uses the same font as the numerical labels, but can
- be a different size.
-
- + Fonts dbox.
- There are usually two fonts in use in a Tau graph. You have to enter in their
- full names in this dbox.
- Font for data points - This should be some kind of symbolic font to supply
- circles, squares, triangles, stars, etc for data points. Specifically use
- the Selwyn font. However, maybe Selwyn only comes with RISC OS 3, I don't
- know. So you can choose to use another font instead if you like. The public
- domain Dingbats font should do the trick.
- Font for graph labels - This serves for all labelling tasks.
-
- + Worksheet dbox.
- This displays the current number of rows and columns in the data worksheet,
- and invites you to enter new values for either or both. If you enter a new
- value for just one, then the other will be given the maximum possible range.
- If you specify fewer rows than the current data, or if you change the number
- of columns at all, the current data will be forgotten! The maximum number
- of columns is 64.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Column submenu.
-
- All but one of the items in this submenu lead to dialogue boxes.
-
- + Plot dbox.
- Governs the appearance of a column of Y data points. All dimensions in
- points. Acts only on the column which includes the caret.
- Plot this Column - When deselected, Tau ignores the column of data
- completely.
- Draw Line - When selected, draw straight lines between successive X,Y points.
- Define your own dash patterns: click 'Menu' on Line Style and choose between
- a continuous line, a dashed line, or a dash-dotted line. In the last two
- of these cases, the lengths and gaps can be entered numerically.
- If a value 'M' is encountered on either the
- X or Y data, the line will be broken by a 'move' operation; line drawing
- resumes from the next numerical value.
- Draw Error Bars - If selected, when drawing the graph, Tau looks for any
- columns designated Ln, Rn, Un, Dn, Hn and Vn, for the appropriate n, to
- supply error bar data to the graph. If none are found, no error bars are
- drawn.
- Key Text - The text to appear in the graph key (if plotted).
- Fill - Fill the area between the graph line (which of course is not plotted
- if Draw Line is deselected) and the X axis, in the selected Desktop colour.
- This is not done if a Y log scale is selected or if Bound ? is selected.
- Expect peculiar effects if your plot includes moves (an 'M' in the
- worksheet).
- Draw Points - When selected, mark data points with characters from the font
- selected in the Fonts dbox. You choose the character size and ascii code -
- an enlarged picture of the character is shown.
- Colours - Fill, Line and Character colours can be chosen; click any key over
- the appropriate box and select from the list. (The appropriate option must be
- activated for a colour to be chosen.)
- Plotting with X - This is usually greyed out (and always is for a column of
- Xs). If “Many Xs” is set, then the label of the X-column associated with the
- Y-column in the plot box can be set. The y-data will then be plotted with
- those x-data (assuming the “plot this column” flag is set for both!),
- autoscaling will include the relevant x-range, and a best fit to the y-data
- will use the relevant x-data.
-
- + Meaning dbox.
- You decide the meaning to attach to the data in the column. A string
- summarising your choice is shown along the top of the worksheet for your
- information. Valid designations are:
- X - The column is to supply the X data for a graph. You need one of these
- somewhere to get a graph! The ‘tag’ entry is greyed out for X values
- unless the “Many Xs” option is selected, when a tag may be entered. A null
- value is taken as zero.
- Yn (where n is any digit or pair of digits) - The column is to supply a set
- of Y data. Since many sets of Y data can be plotted in Tau, each is
- distinguished by the tag n.
- Ln/Rn/Un/Dn - Error bar length left/right/up/down, to attach to the series
- of data points given by the selected X and Yn. For example, a column
- designated U3 supplies 'up' error bar information for use with the column
- designated Y3.
- Hn/Vn - Combines Ln & Rn / Un & Dn designations; that is, provides
- horizontal/vertical error bar lengths in both directions.
- When constructing a graph, Tau looks for the first occurrence of a given
- column meaning and ignores any others. For example, if you have two columns
- both designated 'X", (if “Many Xs” is not selected) or two designated ‘X13’
- (if “Many Xs” is selected) the second will be ignored.
-
- + Plot (many) dbox.
- This performs the actions of the "Plot" dbox on a number of columns, the
- parameters being set to the values for the current column (the one the
- caret is sitting in).
- To determine which columns to act upon, type an appropriate string into the
- writable icon. This string can be either:
- 1) A list of column numbers separated by commas, including ranges. For
- example, "3,6-9,11" will act on columns 3, 6, 7, 9 and 11; or
- 2) A BASIC logical expression which includes the "#" character. The program
- substitutes the # for each column number in turn. Those columns for
- which the expression is TRUE are acted upon. For example, the string
- "(# MOD2)=0" acts only on the even numbered columns, and "#>5 AND #<9"
- acts only on columns 6, 7 and 8.
- The column's tag number can also be changed. Specify a BASIC expression with
- the "#" character again specifying the column number.
-
- + Calculate dbox.
- To fill the highlit area of the column with the caret with the results of a
- calculation, enter a valid BASIC expression. To use values from worksheet
- column n as arguments, use #n; to use values from the selected column, use
- #@; to use the row number (the number shown down the left side of the
- worksheet), use ##.
- For example, if you want to plot a graph of EXP(X) versus X, from -5 to 5 in
- 50 steps. Start with an empty worksheet. Highlight rows 0 to 50 in column 0.
- In the Calculate dbox, enter the expression: (##-25)/5, to give values from
- -5 to 5. Double-click on column 1 to highlight rows 0 to 50, then calculate:
- EXP(#0). Designate column 0 as 'X' and column 1 as, for example, 'Y1'.
- You can define your own functions for use in calculations: write a BASIC
- library containing the FN definition, then drag the BASIC file onto the Tau
- main window. Tau will install the library. Make sure the function name
- doesn't begin FNT..., to guarantee no conflict with Tau's internal FN
- definitions. A simple example 'Sinc' is included.
- You can also use Calculate to copy or move data from one column to another -
- for example, to copy column 3, use the expression: #3.
-
- + Best fit dbox.
- Performs linear/log regression (depending on whether X/Y log scales are
- currently selected) on X,Y data. If “many Xs” is not selected, these data
- are supplied by the selected rows of the data columns designated X and Yn
- respectively. If “Many Xs” is selected, the x-data relevant for Yn are
- used. You select the Yn to use - note this is NOT the column number, but the
- Y tag. The Y values given by the regression are then inserted into the
- highlit columns. You can force the regression to pass through a given point
- (usually the origin). A window is opened for information showing the
- equation of the fit, and the correlation if this is relevant (i.e., if the
- regression has not been forced to pass through a given point).
- Note that the best fit can be used to fit:
- a straight line y = mx + c (use linear-linear in the scale db)
- an exponential fit y = a.exp(bx) (use linear x, log y in the scale db)
- a log fit y = a.log x + b (use log x, linear y in the scale db)
- a power law (use log x and log y in the scale db)
-
- + Normalise.
- Finds the maximum absolute value in the highlit area, then divides all
- highlit cells by that value.
-
- + Sort.
- When the item is clicked, the highlit rows across all columns are sorted in
- ascending order of the values in the highlit column.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Save submenu.
-
- All items but one lead to a Save dialogue box.
-
- + Draw file
- THIS IS THE PRIMARY OUTPUT OF TAU !!! Saving a Draw file initiates the
- construction of the graph as defined by the values in the worksheet and the
- various style variables. The resultant Draw file can be imported directly
- into other applications, or edited using !Draw; for example, if you want to
- combine several graphs onto one diagram. F3 does a quick save to a Draw
- file also.
-
- + Tau file
- Makes a copy of the complete state of Tau in a file of type 082 (TauFile).
- However, information about any user function libraries currently in place is
- not saved.
-
- + Tau style
- The Tau equivalent of a graphics template file, to make it easier to produce
- a batch of graphs with the same style.
-
- + CSV data
- Export data from the worksheet in the form of textual CSV (comma separated
- values). Export is influenced by the selections made in the Options dbox
- (see below).
-
- + Text data
- Export data in the form of spaced text. Also uses Options dbox.
-
- + Binary data
- Export numerical data in BASIC PRINT# format. This saves space. The first
- datum in the file is an integer indicating the number of columns the data
- spans. Also uses Options dbox.
-
- + Options dbox
- This is a dbox of data export options. Choose to use an isolated point
- character '.' to mark blank cells, an 'M' character to mark 'move' cells,
- whether to export data in order of meaning (Y1, Y2, etc) or not, whether
- to export the whole worksheet or just a highlit selection, and whether to
- export the number of columns as the first datum when saving a Binary file.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- View option.
-
- If you click on "View" in the main menu, or on the Tau icon in the top left
- corner, a window will open that displays the graph. This window has its own
- menu, which should be self-explanatory.
-
- Dragging any drawfile into Tau will open the View window to display that
- file. Tau thus acts as a drawfile viewer.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Quitting Tau.
-
- If you click on the Close icon of the main window, you do not actually leave
- Tau: clicking on the icon bar icon restores the main window unchanged. To
- quit Tau, select Quit from the icon bar menu.
-