POLYMATH
POLYMATH
POLYMATH
• Draw a graph
• Determine the equation defining a graph
• Integrate finding the area under a graph)
• Solve linear equations simultaneously
Starting:
When you click on the POLYMATH icon, the following screen should appear:
The upper ribbon has the functions that you will need:
To know what each item on the ribbon, move the pointer on each item and hold – the
function will pop up.
To start a spreadsheet click on the following icon:
This is the regression and analysis icon and allows you to enter, analyse, regress, and
plot set of data points. When you press this icon a spreadsheet appears – just as in
EXCEL. Remember that you CAN, if you want, do the calculations in EXCEL and simply
cut and paste into POLYMAT.
Above each set of values is the column name: CO1, CO2, CO3… This is the default name
but can change this name to what name you like. You will notice that the column name is
t and C. We can add a column name by right clicking on the column CO1. The following
drop down menu pops up:
Look for column name on menu, left click on it and enter the name that you want in the
space provided.
Along with this screen, the following is seen on the right hand side of screen:
Click on Graph. The screen gives you the option of giving the graph a title. It also gives
you the option of determining which is the X Axis and which is the Y Axis. This is important
especially if you have a table with several columns and you want to plot various graphs
with different X and Y values. Once we determine which column we want to be the X axis
and which the Y axis, all we do is press the pink arrow: . The graph automatically pops
up!
To find the polynomial which defines the data points (graph) again look at the top right
corner of screen where data appears:
Click on Regression:
You have the option to choose the order of the polynomial that will best describe the data
points. In Reaction Engineering, unless you want a linear relation, it is common to choose
the fourth order (Polynomial Degree: 4). Click on pink arrow and the following table
appears:
This screen tells you the form of the polynomial:
Model: C = a0 + a1*t + a2*t^2 + a3*t^3 + a4*t^4
It also gives you the values of the constants:
To find the area under the curve, we again look at the top right-hand corner:
Click on Analysis. In the middle of block are three options: Interpolation, Differentiation,
and Integration. Click on Integration and an image similar to the one below pops up:
The upper and lower limits of the integration are shown. In the image above the lower
limit is 120 and the upper limit is 180. You can change the limits by simply typing in the
values in the space provided.
POLYMATH uses three methods to integrate: GAULEG, SPLINE, SIMPSON. For the
cases dealt with in Reaction Engineering the SPLINE method works well. Choose this
option then simply hit the pink arrow and the answer pops up! For the data discussed
above the following screen appears:
The area = 16.48 between t =0 and t = 12
The default is to solve 5 equations, but you can solve any number of equations
simultaneously. If you have 4 equations to be solved simultaneously, simply type in 4 in
the space for “number of linear equations” The spreadsheet below will automatically
adjust to solve 4 equations. In the above equation, we want to solve for X1, X2, X3, X4,
and X5, so we enter the values as in the table below:
Press the pink button and the values of X1, X2, X3, X4, and X5 pops up immediately!