Blockpad is better than Excel for engineering
Excel is widely used for calculations in engineering, and there are good reasons for that.
- It's simple to get started.
- It's intuitive to use.
- There's a lot under the hood when you need it.
Even with these advantages, it's drawbacks for engineering are well known and widely discussed. You've almost certainly experienced them for yourself!
Blockpad captures everything great about Excel while bringing capabilities essential for quality engineering work.
The tools engineers need
Formulas visible in math notation
Blockpad is a spreadsheet at heart, and all of the math in Blockpad is written in spreadsheet style formulas. Unlike conventional spreadsheets, these formulas are displayed in math notation so you can understand the calculations much more easily.
Name values in the formula
Named values are at the core of readable calculations, and if you make that hard to do, it's less likely to get done. Because of that, we made it possible to name values right there where you type in the math, just like you would write it down on paper.
Units intelligence
Engineers work with all kinds of units of measure, and there's no reason your calculation software can't help you with managing them.
In Blockpad, units intelligence takes care of conversion factors for you, encourages good unit "book keeping", and helps to catch errors in unit consistency.
Better documentation
In a Blockpad file, you can work in a word processor style environment (like Word), a spreadsheet environment, or a notebook environment.
With these options, there are more opportunities to actually write down the why of what's being calculated. There's also the free documentation you get with using named values and units intelligence.
A spreadsheet at heart
To capture the magic of spreadsheets, Blockpad is essentially a spreadsheet under the hood.
Dynamic, updating documents
When you make a change to a formula in Blockpad, that change propagate throughout the document automatically, just like in spreadsheets.
Calculations as formulas
Blockpad math is done by typing out spreadsheet-style formulas, with regular math operators and all of the same math functions you'd find in Excel like Sqrt() or Sin().
The main difference is that these operators and functions work with Blockpad's units intelligence and named values.
Click-to-reference
When you're working on a formula, you can click on other values in the document to add them to that formula, just like clicking on a cell in spreadsheets.
Named values and dropdown selections make this feature less necessary, but it's still great to have.
Actual spreadsheets and tables
Blockpad includes spreadsheets and tables (mini-spreadsheets) built in to the software natively.
That means you can have all of the benefits of a spreadsheet-style cell and grid layout and all of the benefits of Blockpad formulas, like units intelligence.
Important spreadsheet tools
It's not just the feel of a spreadsheet. Blockpad also includes important tools for engineering that you find in Excel.
Lookup functions
Lookup functions are a great way to actually get the information from tables that you use in equations.
Conditional formatting
Blockpad has conditional formatting for both spreadsheet cells and regular equations so you can mark values that stand out or don't meet requirements.
Dropdown lists
Dropdown lists allow you to make a controlled list of options for inputs. They are a great tool for making re-usable calculation templates in Excel, and they're great in Blockpad too.
Value formatting
In Blockpad you can set value formatting like the number of decimals that appear behind a decimal. There are also settings you won't see in conventional spreadsheets, like number of significant figures shown and engineering notation.
Multiple "sheets"
Blockpad frames work like sheets in a spreadsheet, except that they can be different environments - word processor (the word processor environment), spreadsheet, drawing, or notebook.
Comments
You can leave comments on both equations and cells. They won't show up when you print the document, and you don't see them unless you click on them.
Advanced features for engineering
Straightforward custom functions
Blockpad makes it easy to create custom functions for calculations you repeat a lot. You can create and name the function in a regular equation, and then use it anywhere in the file.
Dynamic hidden sections
In Blockpad, you can create sections around groups of equations and text, and then make those sections shown or hidden based on values in the document.
This is an very versatile part of the program, useful for various things like showing only inputs and results or dynamically showing different images.
Array and matrix math
Blockpad includes arrays, which you can use for matrix math, item-by-item calculations, programming loops, and lookup values.
Interpolation lookup functions
In addition to regular lookup functions, Blockpad has VlookupInterpolate() and Interpolate2D(), which are essentially lookup functions that can interpolate between values.
Solver sections
Blockpad solver section solve systems of equations and update the results live with the rest of the formulas. There aren't any extra steps required, like running goal seek in Excel.
This way, when an input changes, you know that the output already incorporates the updated solver result.
In-line programming
With Blockpad's in-line programming, you can run small scripts inside of the document without starting up another environment or learning entirely new syntax.
Worth it to make the change
It's challenging to change the software you're using for calculations. Not only are there a lot of new things to learn, but it takes time to re-create all of your templates and calcs.
After you take that initial plunge though, you will quickly start seeing all of the benefits from using calculation software actually built for engineering.
Less time writing calcs
Because you can use regular names easily and actually see what you're doing, it's easier to understand the calcs you're writing, so it takes less time.
Units intelligence helps makes things move faster too, while adding to quality, not sacrificing it.
Catch mistakes as you work
It's a fact of life that mistakes happen. Blockpad helps you catch mistakes as you make them, instead of scratching your head over things hours later.
More confidence in reusing calculations
Since you can view and understand the math in Blockpad, you can be more confident in re-using that old file or some calcs from a team member.
Better looking reports
Blockpad enables you to easily create pages long structural reports with professional formatting.
Try Blockpad today
Start a free desktop trial or get started with the web app.