An ".xla" file is a form of an Excel workbook called an add-in. An add-in is an Excel file format that has the effect of adding capabilities into Excel in such a manner that the added capabilities appear on an equal footing with Excel's built-in capabilities. This makes them easier for you to use than they would be if we provided them in any other way.

If you're reading this at the beginning of this course, much of the description below might not make sense to you. Don't worry. We'll cover everything you need to know. Skip directly to the installation instructions.

The commands are:

• Define Up, Down, Left, Right
• Define Local Name…
• Resize Current Array
• Tile Top Two Windows
• Apply Names to Chart Objects
• Test Installation

SMM>Define Up, Down, Left and Right (Excel 2003 and 2004) Add-Ins>SMM>Define Up, Down, Left and Right (Excel 2007)

This command defines the names Up, Dn, Lt and Rt to be references relative to the cell in which they're used — one cell up, down, left and right, respectively. It also defines the name Me to be a reference to the cell in which it is used. Each name is a local name. These names are defined on all worksheets in the active workbook.

If any of these names already exists as global name, Excel asks whether you want to override the pre-existing name. If you agree, it's done. If not, execution halts.

If any of the names is already defined as a local name on any sheet, and that definition differs from the one about to be installed, you're asked whether you want to override the pre-existing name. If you agree, it's done. If not, execution halts.

SMM>Define Local Name… (Excel 2003 and 2004) or Add-Ins>SMM>Define Local Name… (Excel 2007)

This command defines a local name, which you provide, to be the selection on the active sheet. You have three options that affect the behavior of this command relative to the other worksheets in the active workbook. These options determine on which worksheets definitions are installed.

If you elect "Active worksheet only", then the definition is installed only on the active worksheet. If you elect "Selected worksheets", then Excel installs analogous definitions on each one of the selected worksheets. If you elect "All worksheets", then Excel installs analogous definitions on all worksheets of the active workbook. These analogous definitions refer to the corresponding cells on the other worksheets.

If the name you chose already has one or more definitions on any of the affected sheets, those definitions are overwritten. Be careful. There is no undo.

SMM>Resize Current Array (Excel 2003 and 2004) or Add-Ins>SMM>Resize Current Array (Excel 2007)

This command examines the active cell to determine whether or not it contains an array formula. It then removes that formula from the current array, and applies it to the selection, if possible. If the selection contains cells that are part of, but not all of, another array, then no action is taken.

The purpose of this command is to make it easy to change the shapes of ranges that contain array formulas that use names only. When array formulas use explicit cell references, this command isn't recommended. The cell references in such situations often are range references that match the shape of the current array. When resizing that array, you often want to change the cell references, and this command isn't smart enough to do that.

SMM>Tile Top Two Windows (Excel 2003 and 2004) or Add-Ins>SMM>Tile Top Two Windows (Excel 2007)

This command arranges the top two Excel windows to cover the screen. One is on the top half, the other on the bottom. This is most convenient when you need to look at two windows at the same time. If there are fewer than two windows, nothing happens.

SMM>Apply Names to Chart Objects (Excel 2003 and 2004) or Add-Ins>SMM>Apply Names to Chart Objects (Excel 2007)

This command examines all the chart objects on all selected sheets, and modifies the SERIES formulas in each chart so that they use names when possible. There is no undo.

SMM>Test Installation (Excel 2003 and 2004) or Add-Ins>SMM>Test Installation (Excel 2007)

This command examines the installation of the add-ins files for this course, and verifies that you have installed them as add-ins on your machine. It records a notice in the active cell that tells you whether they have been installed in the add-ins folder of your machine. If you haven't installed the files there, then we will not be able to execute your homework or course project.

The worksheet functions are

• MMMult for multiplying matrices
• Convolve for performing convolution
• Probability0 for computing the probability that there are no customers in a multi-server system
• LengthSys for computing the number of customers in a multi-server system
• ProbabilityNleS for computing a property of multi-server systems

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