Parameterizing and working with math equations in a spreadsheet application

• US 10,515,145 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2016
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Canton, Christian, Campbell, John, Harley, Catherine
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Velez-Lopez, Mario M
• Application Number:
  US15/395,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20170220543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/111 Mathematical or scientific formatting; Subscripts; Superscripts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a spreadsheet application with an enhanced understanding of mathematical equations using a mathematical engine and a calculation engine. The disclosed spreadsheet application has many enhanced features, such as, but not limited to: analyzing complex equations, identifying dependencies, converting mathematical notation to spreadsheet notation, connecting variables in an equation to other cells of the spreadsheet, solving or simplifying equations, recommending different display representations of data, and a providing a math display mode.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for connecting one or more variables of a math equation stored in a first cell of a spreadsheet with data stored in other cells of the spreadsheet, the method comprising:

receiving the math equation, wherein the math equation includes a variable;

providing a user interface specific to the math equation, wherein the user interface includes a first input field for referencing one or more cells for populating the variable and a second input field for referencing one or more cells for displaying a solution of the math equation;

receiving a reference to a second cell in the first input field; and

a reference to one of the first cell or a third cell in the second input field of the user interface;

populating the variable with data stored in the second cell;

and calculating and displaying the solution in one of the first cell or the third cell of the spreadsheet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second cell further includes a second math equation, the second math equation including a second variable.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

for the second variable, receiving a reference to a fourth cell in a third input field of the user interface; and

populating the second variable with data stored in the fourth cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the math equation further includes a second variable, further comprising:

for the second variable, receiving a reference to a fourth cell in a third input field of the user interface; and

populating the second variable with data stored in the fourth cell.

5. The method claim 1, wherein a calculation engine of the spreadsheet application populates the variable.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the reference to the second cell further comprises receiving the reference to a portion of the second cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the portion of the second cell further comprises a reference to a portion of an equation stored in the second cell.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein solving the math equation is performed by a math engine of the spreadsheet application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides a plurality of dropdown menus for solving the math equation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the solution is provided in the user interface.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the user interface displays each step for solving the math equation.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the solution replaces the math equation stored in the first cell of the spreadsheet.

13. A system comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause the system to perform a method for displaying dependencies among cells of a spreadsheet, the method comprising;

receiving a math equation at a first cell of the spreadsheet, wherein the math equation includes a variable;

providing a user interface specific to the math equation, wherein the user interface includes a first input field for referencing one or more cells for populating the variable and a second input field for referencing one or more cells for displaying a solution of the math equation;

receiving a reference to a second cell in the first input field and a reference to one of the first cell or a third cell in the second input field of the user interface;

populating the variable with data stored in the second cell; and

displaying a dependency from the first cell to the second cell.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein displaying the dependency comprises displaying an arrow from the first cell to the second cell.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

wherein the data comprises a second math equation including a second variable;

wherein receiving a reference to the second cell in the first input field includes receiving a reference to the second variable in the first input field; and

displaying a second dependency from the variable to the second variable.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

wherein the data comprises a second math equation including a second variable;

for the second variable, receiving a reference to a fourth cell in a third input field of the user interface, wherein the fourth cell stores data; and

displaying a second dependency from the second cell to the fourth cell.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the dependency and the second dependency are displayed simultaneously.

18. A computer-implemented method for receiving an equation in a math display mode of a spreadsheet application, the method comprising:

receiving, a math equation, wherein the math equation includes a variable;

parsing the math equation;

providing a user interface specific to the math equation, wherein the user interface includes a first dropdown field for selecting one or more cells for populating the variable and a second dropdown field for selecting one or more cells for displaying a solution of the math equation;

receiving a first selection of a first cell in the first dropdown field and a second selection of a second cell in the second dropdown field;

inserting a first reference to the first cell and a second reference to the second cell in the math equation; and

displaying the math equation in a third cell of the spreadsheet.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

populating the variable with data stored in the first cell; and

displaying the solution of the math equation in the second cell.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein displaying the solution of the math equation further comprises displaying each step of the solution.