I've mentioned using Excel in class and in e-mails for graphing
and calculations.  While you don't need to use Excel (or other
graphing programs) it will be very helpful this quarter.  There are
a lot of exps with lots of calculations and graphs this quarter.  In
the long run it will make things more efficient.

If you don't have Excel (or Microsoft Word) you can get this free
from OSU via the Outlook mail program.  You can get other site-licensed
software free.  Go to the following web site for more information and look
at the links under "Software",

https://ocio.osu.edu/

Scroll down to "Computing Hardware and Software"  Then click
on Software Downloads and Microsoft Personal Use Program .

Microsoft Office (Office 360 student edition)
is free via the Outlook mail app.

You can find Excel (and other software) on computers at the computer
labs on campus, Software at Student Computer Centers and in 170 Celeste.

You can get OpenOffice free from the web, http://www.openoffice.org/.
It has Microsoft like compatible products (similar to Word and Excel) that can
read and write Microsoft files. I don't think this has all the features available
in the Microsoft products (like Excel) but will probably work well enough.

Google has comparable versions of Word and Excel online for free.
You can find these at "docs.google.com". An advantage to using this
is you can access your documents anywhere you have access to the
internet. However, if you have connectivity issues, I would avoid it.
This info came from a former student and I've only briefly tried it.
At least at first glance, it doesn't look like it has all the features
found in Excel. Also, while it may write a ".doc" or ".docx" file we're
finding not all programs which supposedly write these types of files do
them equally well and some don't upload properly to Carmen as ".doc"
or ".docx" files. Making a ".pdf" file usually works well.

Dr. Zellmer