Matrix

a spreadsheet program for a wide variety of uses

Matrix, 356Kb

Matrix is a free spreadsheet program with a good set of fundamental features. It has over 40 functions, including a range of mathematical, statistical, financial, string manipulation, time and date operations. There is even an 'if' function for decision making and a 'choose' function for selecting a cell from a range. Like the industry standard spreadsheet, Excel, you can auto-fill formulas, and cells can be hidden or locked. The maximum size of the spreadsheet depends on the amount of memory you have, from 100 rows x 26 columns for 2 Megs, to 800 rows x 26 columns for 16 Megs of memory. Multiple spreadsheets can be open at once by running seperate instances of the program. A spreadsheet can be printed, all of in part. Matrix is a DOS program, but has regular menus and you can use a mouse.

There are, of course, limitations to Matrix. Excel and other professional spreadsheets offer built-in graphing capabilities. Matrix doesn't-- you'll have to make them yourself or trasfer the data to a graphing program. Also, Matrix has its own file format which no other spreadsheet program understands, and it can't read any other format. However, your spreadsheet can be saved to a text file (by redirecting the print output, see the excellent instruction manual) and cut and pasted into other spreadsheet programs, your word processor, or graphing app.

System Requirements:

A math coprocessor is required. All Pentium and higher computers have them. 486DX computers do too. 486SX, 386DX, and 386SX computers have them only if the 487/387 coprocessor chip has been added to the motherboard. Trying to run Matrix will tell you if you have one.

Using Matrix on a 386 or 486 requires special considerations, otherwise it runs too slow. You should either (1) limit the size of the spreadsheet by reducing the memory available to matrix or (2) turn off auto-calc (which recalcs the entire spreadsheet every time something changes). To reduce memory, edit the program's PIF file.

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