Sigmaplot
SigmaPlot helps you creating technical graphics fast and accurate in the highest quality. Both 2D graphs and 3D graphs are available. The data analysis and graphics package SigmaPlot addresses scientists and engineers who create accurate, high-resolution graphs and want to publish their research results. The wide range of graphic export options ensures the exchange and publication of the results and the insertion of SigmaPlot graphs into Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint documents.
Graph options such as technical axis scaling, multiple axes, automatic error bars, regression lines, nonlinear curve fitting or confidence intervals provide maximum flexibility in the visualisation of your research results. Furthermore, SigmaPlot comprises a wide range of statistical functions including enzyme kinetic and many other curve fits, method comparison Bland-Altman, Kaplan Meier, etc.
Use SigmaPlot also to analyze your data. The statistical consulting assistant guarantees an easy and precise application of extensive statistical tools for analyzing your scientific data. Benefit from more than 50 statistical functions! Again, you can use a wizard for selecting the "right" statistical analysis method.
SigmaPlot at a glance:
- Easy creation of high-resolution graphs
- Statistical tools for analyzing your scientific data
- Graphical export options for publishing your results
- Automation by macros for repetitive tasks
- Direct access from Microsoft Excel to SigmaPlot
Recommended products
GraphPad Prism
SigmaPlot Helps You Quickly Create Exact Graphs
With the new Graph Properties user interface you can select the property category in the tree on the left and then change properties on the right. The change is immediately graphed and if you move your cursor off the panel then it becomes transparent and you can see the effect of your changes without leaving the panel.
The “select left and change right” procedure makes editing your graphs quick and easy. SigmaPlot takes you beyond simple spreadsheets to help you show off your work clearly and precisely. With SigmaPlot, you can produce high-quality graphs without spending hours in front of a computer. SigmaPlot offers seamless Microsoft Office® integration, so you can easily access data from Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets and present your results in Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations.
The user interface also includes Microsoft Office style ribbon controls. And the tabbed window interface efficiently organizes your worksheets and graphs for easy selection. And these tabs may be organized into either vertical or horizontal tab groups. Graph Gallery and Notebook Manger panes may be moved to any position and easily placed using docking panel guides. You can add frequently used objects to the Quick Access Toolbar. For example you might want to add Notebook Save, Close All, Refresh Graph Page and Modify Plot.
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Graphing software that makes data visualization easy
Graph creation starts with SigmaPlot’s award-winning interface. Take advantage of ribbon collections of common properties, tabbed selection of graphs, worksheets and reports, right mouse button support and graph preferences. Select the graph type you want to create from the Graph Toolbar’s easy-to-read icons. The interactive Graph Wizard leads you through every step of graph creation. You get compelling, publication-quality charts and graphs in no time. SigmaPlot offers more options for charting, modeling and graphing your technical data than any other graphics software package.
Compare and contrast trends in your data by creating multiple axes per graph, multiple graphs per page and multiple pages per worksheet. Accurately arrange multiple graphs on a page using built-in templates or your own page layouts with SigmaPlot’s WYSIWYG page layout and zoom features.[/toggle]
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More than 100 2-D and 3-D technical graph types
From simple 2-D scatter plots to compelling contour and the new radar and dot density plots, SigmaPlot gives you the exact technical graph type you need for your demanding research. And, to help you see interactions in your 3-D data, SigmaPlot powerfully renders multiple intersecting 3-D meshes with hidden line removal. With so many different chart and graph types to choose from, you can always find the best visual representation of your data.
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Customize every detail of your charts and graphs
SigmaPlot offers the flexibility to customize every detail of your graph. You can add axis breaks, standard or asymmetric error bars and symbols; change colors, fonts, line thickness and more. Double-click on any graph element to launch the Graph Properties dialog box. Modify your graph, chart or diagram further by pasting an equation, symbol, map, picture, illustration or other image into your presentation. And select anti-aliasing to display jaggy-free smooth lines that can be used in your PowerPoint® presentations.[/toggle]
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Quickly Plot your Data from Existing Graph Templates in the Graph Style Gallery
Save all of the attributes of your favorite graph style in the Graph Style Gallery. Add greater speed and efficiency to your analysis by quickly recalling an existing graph type you need and applying its style to your current dataset.
- Quickly save any graph with all graph properties as a style and add a bitmap image to the gallery
- No need to be an expert, create customized graphs in no time with the Graph Gallery
- Choose an image from the Graph Style Gallery to quickly plot your data using an existing graph template
- Save time by using a predetermined style to create a graph of the data
- Avoid re-creating complex graphs
But, remember, you don’t necessarily need to use the power of the Graph Gallery since every graph in SigmaPlot is a template. In the Notebook Manager, you can copy and paste a graph from one worksheet to another and all the attributes of that graph are applied to the new data saving much time.[/toggle]
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Publish your charts and graphs anywhere
Create stunning slides, display your graphs in reports or further customize your graphs in drawing packages. Save graphs for publication in a technical journal, article or paper with SigmaPlot’s wide range of graphic export options. Presenting and publishing your results has never been easier – or looked this good.
Create customized reports with SigmaPlot’s Report Editor or embed your graphs in any OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) container – word processors, Microsoft PowerPoint or another graphics program. Then, just double click your graph to edit directly inside your document. Quickly send your high-resolution graphs online to share with others.[/toggle]
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Share high-quality graphs and data on the Web
Export your graphs ashigh-resolution, dynamic Web pages – not simple GIF or JPEG files. Viewers can explore data used to create vector graphs and zoom, pan or print images at any resolution directly from a Web Browser. Automatically generate active Web objects from your graphs or embed the objects within other Web pages.
- Share the data behind your web-based graphs with colleagues and students
- Enable colleagues to print your full report from your intranetor Web site directly from their browsers – without compromising the quality of the graphs
- Create an optional password while exporting your graph to limit data access to authorized users
- Produce Web documents without knowing HTML, or embed SigmaPlot Web object graphs in existing HTML files to create interactive electronic reports
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Data Analysis Doesn’t Get Much Easier
SigmaPlot provides all the fundamental tools you need to analyze your data from basic statistics to advanced mathematical calculations. Click the View Column Statistics button to instantly generate summary statistics including 95% and 99% confidence intervals. Run t-tests, linear regressions, non-linear regressions and ANOVA with ease. You can fit a curve or plot a function and get a report of the results in seconds. Use built-in transforms to massage your data and create a unique chart, diagram or figure. With SigmaPlot – it’s all so simple!
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Use SigmaPlot within Microsoft Excel
Access SigmaPlot right from your active Microsoft Excel worksheet. Tedious cut-and-paste data preparation steps are eliminated when you launch SigmaPlot’s Graph Wizard right from the Excel toolbar. Use Excel in-cell formulas, pivot tables, macros and date or time formats without worry. Keep your data and graphs in one convenient file.
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Transforms and Quick Transforms
Generate simulated data or modify worksheet columns of data with transforms. Create simple one-line transforms with the Quick Transforms feature that walks you through transform implementation. Or create extremely complex transforms with hundreds of lines of code.
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Use the Regression Wizard to fit data easily and accurately
Fitting your data is easy with the SigmaPlot Regression Wizard. The Regression Wizard automatically determines your initial parameters, writes a statistical report, saves your equation to your SigmaPlot Notebook, and adds your results to existing graphs or creates a new one!
The Regression Wizard accurately fits nearly any equation – piecewise continuous, multifunctional, weighted, Boolean functions and more – up to 10 variables and 25 parameters. You can even add your own curve fit equations and add them to the Regression Wizard.
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Use the Dynamic Curve Fitter to determine if your fit is valid
The Dynamic Curve Fitter performs 200 or more curve fits using your equation and data starting from optimally different initial starting values. The results are ranked by goodness of fit so that you can check the top ranked results against the result you obtained from the Regression Wizard.
For many simple equations, which are fit to data sets with a sufficiently large number of data points, the Dynamic Curve Fitter finds the same result as the Regression Wizard. But the problem is that the user simply does not know whether the solution found by the Regression Wizard is the best possible or not. So there is always a concern that the correct solution has not been found. Dynamic fitting minimizes this concern. Its use is encouraged prior to publishing results particularly if a complicated equation is used.
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Use Global Curve Fitting to simultaneously analyze multiple data
Global curve fitting is used when you want to fit an equation to several data sets simultaneously. The selected equation must have exactly one independent variable. The data sets can be selected from a worksheet or a graph using a variety of data formats. You can also specify the behavior of each equation parameter with respect to the data sets. A parameter can be localized to have a separate value for each data set, or a parameter can be shared to have the same value for all data sets.
The Global Curve Fit Wizard is very similar to the Regression and Dynamic Fit Wizards in design and operation. The main difference is the extra panel shown below for specifying the shared parameters.
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Plot Nearly ANY Mathematical Function
Plotting user-defined and parameterized equations is only a mouseclick away with the Plot Equation feature. Just type the function or select one from the built-in library and specify the parameters and the range. It’s that simple! Create your own built-in functions and save them for future use. Plot functions on new or existing graphs or plot multiple functions simultaneously using different parameter values. Save plotted X and Y results to the worksheet.
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Obtain Data from Nearly Any Source
SigmaPlot has import file formats for all common text files. This includes a general purpose ASCII file importer which allows importing comma delimited files and user-selected delimiters. Plus all Excel formats may be imported. SPSS, Minitab, SYSTAT and SAS input data formats are supported by SigmaPlot.
Axon binary and text electrophysiology files may be imported. Also the Electrophysiology module, purchased separately, allows importing specific parts of electrophysiology files from Axon Instruments ABF files, Bruxton Corporation’s Acquire format and HEKA electronik’s Pulse format. Import any ODBC compliant database. Excel and Access database files are supported. Run SQL queries on tables and selectively import information.
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Maximize your Productivity with SigmaPlot’s Automation
Automate Complex Repetitive Tasks
Create macros in no time with SigmaPlot’s easy-to-use macro language. Not a programmer? No problem. With SigmaPlot, you can record macros by point-and-click with the macro recorder. Use macros to acquire your data, execute powerful analytical methods, and create industry-specific or field-specific graphs. Use one of the thirty built-in macros as provided or use these macros as a base to quickly create your own macros.
Share the power of SigmaPlot with less-experienced users by using macros to tailor the SigmaPlot interface for your particular application. Create custom dialog boxes, menu choices and forms to help guide novice users through a session.
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Tap into SigmaPlot’s Powerful Capabilities from Within Other Applications
Call on SigmaPlot´s functionality from external sources that have Visual Basic embedded including Microsoft Word®, Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft PowerPoint® or custom software applications. Analyze and graph your data using SigmaPlot within those applications.
For example, you can run a Visual Basic script in Microsoft Word® or Excel® that calls on SigmaPlot to generate and embed your graph in the document. SigmaPlot´s OLE2 automation provides unlimited flexibility.[/toggle]
SigmaPlot Features
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Choose from a wide range of graph types to best present your results
SigmaPlot provides more than 100 different 2-D and 3-D graph types. From simple 2-D scatter plots to compelling contour, Forest and radar plots, SigmaPlot gives you the exact technical graph type you need for your demanding research. With so many options, you can always find the best visual representation of your data.
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Statistical Analysis is no longer a daunting task
SigmaPlot now offers almost 50 of the most frequently used statistical tests in scientific research by integrating SigmaStat into one application. Suggestion of the most appropriate statistical tests is offered by a software-based Advisor. Raw and indexed data formats are accepted to avoid data reformatting.
Violation of data assumptions is checked in the background and, if true, the correct test to use is recommended. Reports with descriptive interpretations are generated and graphs specific to each test may be created.
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SigmaPlot now employs an all new user interface allowing users to easily setup a global curve fit. This gives users the ability to easily share one or more equation parameters across multiple data sets.
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Non-linear curve fitting is known to produce incorrect results in some instances.The problem is that you don´t necessarily know that this has happened. Dynamic Curve Fitting is designed to determine if this has happened and if so what the likely best fit is.
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SigmaPlot Has Complete Advisory Statistical Analysis Features
SigmaPlot is now a complete graphing AND an advisory statistics suite. All of the advanced statistical analysis features found in the package known as SigmaStat have now been incorporated into SigmaPlot along with several new statistical features. SigmaPlot guides users through every step of the analysis and performs powerful statistical analysis without the user being a statistical expert.
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In addition to the EC50 value already computed, the user can also compute other user-entered EC values such as EC40 and EC60 and compute them instantly. Two five-parameter logistic functions have also been added and the Dynamic Curve Fitting feature included to help solve difficult curve fitting problems.
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In earlier versions of SigmaPlot, almost all objects in a 2D graph were selectable with just a mouse click. However, almost all objects in a 3D graph were not. SigmaPlot now adds mouse selectability of all 3D graph objects with the ability to customize all 3D objects.
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Share High-Quality Graphs and Data on the Web
Export your graphs as high-resolution, dynamic Web pages – not simple GIF or JPEG files. Viewers can explore data used to create graphs and zoom, pan or print images at full resolution directly from a Web Browser. Automatically generate active Web objects from your graphs or embed the objects within other Web pages.
- Simply select the Web graph to share its data with colleagues and students
- Share the data behind your graphs with colleagues and students
- Enable colleagues to print your full report from your intranet or Web site directly from their browsers – without compromising the quality of the graphs
- Create an optional password while exporting your graph to limit data access to authorized users
- Produce Web documents without knowing HTML or embed SigmaPlot Web object graphs within HTML files to create interactive electronic reports
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Each worksheet can hold a list of user defined transforms that will automatically be re-run whenever the transform input data has changed.
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Let’s say you would like to start by selecting a particular kind of graph but you don’t know how to set up the worksheet to achieve it. SigmaPlot lets the user select a graph first and then gives you a pre-formatted worksheet to structure their data. The data entered into the worksheet is immediately displayed on the graph. This feature can demonstrate to you the strong relationship between the data format and the graph type.
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New Worksheet Features Include
- Import Excel worksheet data into a SigmaPlot worksheet or Open an Excel worksheet as an Excel worksheet in SigmaPlot
- Mini toolbar for worksheet cell editing
- Zoom enabled worksheet
- Worksheet scrolling with mouse wheel
- Line widths may be placed in the worksheet for graph customization
- Formatted text (subscript, etc.) in worksheet cells
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Create stunning slides, display your graphs in reports or further customize your graphs in drawing packages. Save graphs for publication in a technical journal, article or paper with SigmaPlot’s wide range of graphic export options. Presenting and publishing your results has never been easier – or looked this good. Create customized reports with SigmaPlot’s Report Editor or embed your graphs in any OLE container – word processors, Microsoft PowerPoint or graphics program. Just double click your graph to edit directly inside your document. Quickly send your high-resolution graphs online to share with others.
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SigmaPlot’s Notebook Functionality
- Can hold SigmaPlot worksheets, Excel worksheets, reports, documents, regression wizard equations, graph pages, and macros.
- New dialog-bar-based notebook that has several states: docks, resizable, hide-able, summary information mode, etc.
- Browser-like notebook functionality that supports drag-n-drop capabilities
- Direct-editing of notebook summary information
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Import
- Excel, ASCII Plain Text, Comma Delimited, MS Access
- General ASCII import filter
- SigmaPlot DOS 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 data worksheets, SigmaPlot 1.0, 2.0 Worksheet, and 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0 and 11.0 Windows, SigmaPlot 4.1 and 5.0 Macintosh data worksheets
- Comma delimited and general purpose ASCII import filter
- Symphony, Quattro Pro, dBASE E, DIF, Lotus 1-2-3, Paradox
- SigmaStat DOS and 1.0 worksheets, SYSTAT, SPSS, SAS data set V6. V8, V9, SAS export file, Minitab V8 to V12
- SigmaScan, SigmaScan Pro, SigmaScan Image, Mocha
- TableCurve 2D and 3D
- Axon Binary, Axon Text
- Import ODBC compliant databases
- Run SQL queries on tables and selectively import information
- Import Excel 2007 files directly into SigmaPlot
Export
- Excel, ASCII Plain Text, Tab delimited, Comma delimited
- SigmaPlot 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 for Windows, SigmaPlot 5.0 for Macintosh data worksheets
- SigmaPlot 7.101, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0
- SigmaScan, SigmaScan Pro, SigmaScan Image, Mocha
- SigmaStat 2.0, SYSTAT, SAS V6 data set, Minitab V11
- Vector PDF and HTML export of graphs and reports
- Symphony, Quattro Pro, dBASE III, DIF, Lotus 1-2-3, Paradox
- Graph formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG, HTML, TIFF CMYK, TIFF RGB, Bitmap, Metafile (wmf), Enhanced Metafile (emf), PDF, PSD, EPS, PDF vector, SVG, SWF
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Automate Routine and Complex Tasks
- Visual Basic compatible programming using built-in macro language interface
- Macro recorder to save and play-back operations
- Full automation object support – use Visual Basic to create your own SigmaPlot-based applications
- Run built-in macros or create and add your own scripts
- Add menu commands and create dialog boxes
- Toolbox ribbon: helpful macros appear as separate grouped items
- Export graph to PowerPoint Slide (macro)
- “Insert Graph to Microsoft Word” Toolbox ribbon macro
- Keyboard shortcuts in the Graph page and most Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts in the worksheet
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Symbol Types
- Over 100 symbol types
- 30 new symbol types that include half-filled and BMW styles
- Edit font when using text as symbol
- Access new symbols directly from graph properties dialog, toolbar, legend page and the symbol dialog box
- More line types such as dash and gap patterns
- More fill patterns for bar charts and area plots, that can be independently set from the line color
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SigmaPlot Report Editor
- Cut and paste or use OLE to combine all the important aspects of your analysis into one document.
- Copy / Paste tabular data between report and Excel worksheet
- Choose from a wide range of styles, sizes and colors from any system font
- New tables with pre-defined styles or user customized
- Export to most word processors
- Add decimal tabs, tab leader, true date/time fields
- Vertical and horizontal rulers for report formatting
- Auto-numbering
- Change report background color
- Improved formatting ruler
- Zoom enabled in reports
- Drag and drop Word 2007 and 2010 documents into reports
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Page Layout and Annotation Options
- OLE 2 container and server
- Automatic or manual legends
- True WYSIWYG
- Multiline text editor
- Multiple curves and plots on one graph
- Multiple axes on one graph
- Arrange graphs with built-in templates
- Multiple levels of zooming and custom zooming
- Scale graph to any size
- Resize graphic elements proportionally with resizing graph
- Alignment and position tools
- Draw lines, ellipses, boxes, arrows
- Layering options
- Over 16 million custom colors
- Inset graphs inside one another
- Selection of graph objects
- Right-click property editing
- New zoom, drag and pan controls
- Mouse wheel scrolling enabled
- Right-click property editing for 3D Graphs
- Color schemes
- Paste graphic objects from other
Further Information:
SigmaPlot 30-Day Trial Download
As scientists ourselves, we know the importance of being able to evaluate unrestricted software to ensure that it fits your specific needs. Our trial version is fully functional for 30 full days, giving you the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate our software.
SigmaPlot System Requirements
Hardware
Windows 7, Windows 8.x and Windows 10, Windows Vista:
- 2 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Processor
- 2 GB of System Memory for 32-bit (x86)
- 300 MB of Available Hard Disk Space
- CD-ROM Drive or Internet Connection
- 800×600 SVGA/256 Color Display or better
- Internet Explorer Version 8 or better
Software
- Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.x, Windows 10; Internet Explorer 6 or higher
- Office 2003 or higher (paste to Powerpoint Slide, Insert Graphs into Word and other macros)
New Features in
SigmaPlot Version
Below are some of the many new features in SigmaPlot Version :
New Graph Features
- Arrows with solid arrowheads
- Added a right mouse menu command for pasting copied graph primitives (arrow, box, etc.) on the page
- A common operation on a graph is to zoom in, make a modification and then zoom out. A toggle was added, Ctrl+3, between your current zoom level and 100%.
- Data sampling dropdown now shows the maximum number of rows in the column
- Mini-toolbars for left mouse selection may be turned off
- An Anti-aliasing button has been added to the Graph Page Tab, Format Group
- Improved user interface for the Color Schemes dialog
- The “Each Curve” option is automatically turned on when performing a linear regression on one plot
- Additional Plot Regression Statistics
- Improved access to result graphs following statistical analysis – obtained by right clicking either a statistical report or another result graph
- The scatter matrix graph, used to display results of some statistical tests such as correlation, has increased support from 10 variables previously up to 40 variables
- Graph Properties can now be obtained by right clicking a graph or plot
- Renamed the Linear Regression command in the Graph Analysis group of the Analysis tab to Plot Regression
- Text and special symbols options are now shown directly on the symbols dialog
- The Graph Additions Group Name has been changed to Manage Plots
- Multiple Result Graph Types May Now Be Simultaneously Selected from the Create Result Graph Dialog
- The default appearance of all Result Graphs has been improved
- Added TIFF gray scale export option for graphs and graph pages
- A Page Templates button has been added to the Format group of the Graph Page ribbon tab
New Worksheet Features
- Sorting data in the worksheet now supports multiple key columns
- Coefficient of Variation and 90% Confidence Interval added to Column Statistics
- Formatted text can now be used in statistical analyses
- Custom Column Statistics Items and Order May Now be Specified
- Statistical procedures may now use data from over 4000 worksheet columns
New Analysis Features
- The One-Way Frequency Tables method has been added
- The unpaired (aka 2-independent samples) t-test has been enhanced to provide options to test the equality of the populations means of the two groups without assuming equal variances (Welch’s t-test)
- Ctrl-A now selects all program lines in user defined transforms
- More nonlinear regression application examples have been added that can now be accessed from the Help menu
- Improvements to the transforms examples that can now be accessed from the Help menu
- Improvements to some ape (automatic parameter estimate) functions in the Transform Language
- The number of groups for computing dummy variables has been extended from 100 to 1000
- Increased the maximum character length of labels in statistical tables from 30 to 255
- Error Message and Partial Save Nonlinear Regression Improvements
- The User-Defined Transform and Regression Dialogs are Now Resizable and can be Saved
- Improved User Interface for the Quick Transforms dialog
New Miscellaneous Features
- Unicode is now supported
- Automatic Updating is available within SigmaPlot to get the latest updates to features
- User settings are now preserved for new versions of SigmaPlot
- Added new ribbon layouts for different types of workflows
- The Export button is also on the Main button
- New Macro Method for Exporting any Graph Page Selection
- Added a Save All command to the Main Button
- Two New Macros Using Indexed Data for Graphing
- Sample Data Sets Available from Help
- New Macro Automation Method to Determine a Worksheet Column Length
- Added File Import and Import Database to the Main Button panel for more visible access
- Data Can Now be Extracted from a Result Graph
Graph Features
Arrows with Solid Arrowheads
The solid arrowhead is much more aesthetic than an arrowhead consisting of intersecting lines.
Right Mouse Graph Primitive Paste
A graph primitive object can now be both copied and pasted from the right click menu. This saves editing steps. These objects include the graph, boxes, circles, arrows, lines and text.
Toggle between Zoom Levels
One of the goals of this release is to make some procedures simpler. This is one of them. You frequently zoom in to make fine modifications but then you want to zoom out to see the overall effect. A toggle Ctrl+3 has been added. It will toggle between your current zoom level and 100% enabling you to easily make the changes and then see the result.
Data sampling dropdown now shows the maximum number of rows in the column
Data sampling in Graph Properties allows you to select the “from, to, by” rows for your graph. It also shows a sampling of the data rows but not every row and, in particular, not necessarily the last row. The “to” label now shows the numerical length of the column. This is a small feature but may help the user by catching a mis-selected column and also help you select the “by” number of rows.
Turn Off Left Mouse Selection Mini-toolbars
Some users only want right mouse selection mini-toolbars. The Main Button, Options, Page has a new checkbox: “Show mini toolbars on selection”. If you turn this off, mini toolbars will not appear when you select (left mouse) an object on the Page, but will still appear if you right click.
New Anti-aliasing Button
Use of anti-aliasing will smooth lines on your graph. This presently exists but was somewhat hidden under a right click on the page. This new button on the ribbon makes the feature obvious.
Improved User Interface for the Color Schemes Dialog
An unnecessary mouse click was removed. The color scheme dialog is displayed immediately. This feature and the next are examples of removing unnecessary mouse clicks.
“Each Curve” Option is Automatically Turned on when Performing a Linear Regression on One Plot
It is enabled in the Plot Regression dialog. This saves one step for a commonly used procedure.
Additional Plot Regression Statistics
More statistics have been added to the results in the Plot Regression dialog that is used for polynomial fitting to graph data. The statistics include the model performance measures R2, Adjusted R2, Standard Error of the Estimate and the Akaike Information Criterion. These are in addition to the standard errors for parameters and confidence intervals for the parameters. A control has also been added to change the number of results decimal places.
Improved Access to Result Graphs Following Statistical Analysis
Result graphs following a statistical analysis can now be obtained by right clicking either a statistical report or the page outside another result graph as shown below.
Scatter Matrix Graph Dimension is Increased to 40 Variables
The scatter matrix result graphs have increased support to a maximum of 40 variables:
Graph Properties Can Now Be Obtained by Right Clicking a Graph or Plot
The Graph Properties panel can be obtained from the Home tab or by double clicking a graph or plot on a graph. To make this even more visible, Graph Properties can now be obtained by right clicking on a graph or plot.
Renamed Linear Regression command in the Graph Analysis group of the Analysis tab to Plot Regression
This is to emphasize that this regression is obtained from a plot on a graph and not from the worksheet. The name change is also made to the dialog and tool tip text.
Text and Special Symbols Options are Now Shown Directly on the Symbols Dialog
A Symbol Font button has been added to the Symbols dialog. This makes it easier to change the font and visualize directly what it will look like on the graph. A Special Symbols button has been added which contains 120 addition symbols.
The Graph Additions Group Name Has Been Changed to Manage Plots
For clarity, the name of the Graph Additions panel on the Graph Page tab has been changed to Manage Plots since this is what these functions do.
Multiple Result Graph Types May Now be Simultaneously Selected from the Create Result Graph Dialog
Multiple Result Graph types may be selected using the mouse left click. This enables the user to perform in one step what before required multiple dialog openings. The keyboard behavior of selecting one graph using the arrow keys has not changed.
The Default Appearance of Result Graphs Improved
The default Result Graph appearance has been improved by modifying graph attributes that include axis line thickness, tick mark thickness, plot line thickness and color schemes for lines, line styles, symbol size and symbol edge thickness. The various line thicknesses and color schemes have been set to visually pleasing values.
Gray Scale TIFF Option Added
A Gray Scale option has been added to TIFF RGB export (compressed or not).
Added a Page Templates Button on the Graph Page Ribbon Tab
Page templates are more easily accessible from the ribbon with a Templates button in the Format group of the Graph Page tab.
Worksheet Features
Sorting Data in the Worksheet Now Supports Multiple Key Columns
Use the Sort feature from the Worksheet tab Edit group to sort using multiple key columns.
Coefficient of Variation and 90% Confidence Interval added to Column Statistics
Use the Worksheet tab and View group to select View Column Statistics (or press F6). The image below shows the addition of % CV and 90% Confidence.
Formatted Text Can Now be Used in Statistical Analyses
Three formatted “a”s and three formatted “b”s are entered into a worksheet to identify groups for a statistical test. The small square in the upper right corner of the worksheet indicates that that text is formatted. Then, in the example below, the formatted text in the graph is increased in size. SigmaPlot now recognizes formatted text for statistical tests as it did in the past for plain text. A graph using these two groups and the t-test report are shown below:
Custom Column Statistics Items and Order May Now Be Specified
Specific Column Statistics items may now be selected and their order specified. Do this from the Main button, Options, Worksheet tab, Statistics when a Column Statistics worksheet is the current window. The two list box interface is shown below:
Analysis Features
One-Way Frequency Tables Method
The one-way frequency tables method is new. It is applicable to multiple worksheet columns. It computes the number of times independent variable values occur.
Enhancement of the Unpaired T-test
The unpaired (aka 2-independent samples) t-test has been enhanced to provide the option to test the equality of the population means of the two groups without assuming equal variances (Welch’s t-test).
Improved T-test Reports
The option of selecting P-values from either a two-tailed or a one-tailed t-test has been added. This simplifies the appearance of the report giving the most useful results. Text has been added to explain the possible use of Welch’s test: “Use the results of Welch’s test, where equal variances are not assumed, if the equality of the population variances of the two groups is in doubt.”
More Nonlinear Regression Application Examples Added to Nonlin.jnb
Nonlinear regression examples are found in Help, SigmaPlot Samples and Nonlinear Regression. The file is located in the Samples subfolder of the user’s profile folder.
Improvements to the Transforms Examples Xfms.jnb
Several new transforms have been added with example worksheets and graphs. In SigmaPlot 13, this file contained 25 transforms. Some of these have been removed because a corresponding macro gives better results, but several more were added, with descriptions, worksheets and graphs so that this file now contains 55 transforms. Also, this file is now copied to the user profile folder during installation and is accessible from the Help menu in SigmaPlot (Help, SigmaPlot Samples and Transforms).
Improvements to Some Automatic Parameter Estimation Functions in the Transform Language
APE functions are used by SigmaPlot’s nonlinear regression feature. They determine good starting values for the fitting function’s parameters. The ape functions for polynomial and rational polynomial functions have been improved to avoid ill-conditioned or singular solution for the parameter estimates. Also, for power users, the ape function and the polynomial function used together in a user-defined transform provide a quick way of doing Polynomial Regression.
Number of Groups for Dummy Variables has been Extended From 100 to 1000
This is for users who want to use dummy variables for coding categorical variables for specific procedures in SigmaPlot’s statistics, like logarithmic regression, or covariates for Cox regression and ANCOVA. The advanced user can also use them to extend SigmaPlot’s multi-factor ANOVA by again converting the categorical variables to dummy variables and using multi-linear regression (GLM). As an example of the number of dummy variables required, a 5x5x5 3-Way ANOVA requires 124 dummy variables to describe it as a regression model, which is done internally in SigmaPlot. The dummy variable interface has been used with multi-linear regression to verify examples of SigmaPlot’s ANOVA results, but this could not have been done for the ANOVA design above in the previous version of SigmaPlot since the old limit was 100 dummy variables.
Error Message and Partial Save Nonlinear Regression Improvements
Increased the types of nonlinear regression error messages reported when using the Function Edit dialog to create fit equations. The ability to save partially complete equations so that the user can return to them later for completion has been added.
Improved the Histogram and Polynomial Transform Language Functions and the Exponential Operator to Handle the nth Root of Negative Numbers
The Transform Language function histogram was modified to add an optional third argument whose default value is zero. If the value of this argument is zero, the function behaves as before, assigning data to a bucket whose value equals the bucket’s right edge. If the value of the argument is not zero, then data is assigned to a bucket if its value equals its left edge instead. The behavior with a non-zero argument is more conventional. The Transform Language function polynomial was modified to replace its method for evaluation to use the Horner algorithm which is faster and more accurate. Also increased the maximum degree of the polynomial you can evaluate to 1000.
Added the ability to compute nth roots of negative numbers when n is an odd integer
Before, this resulted in missing values. So, for example, (-8)^(1/3) or (-8)**(1/3) should now yield -2. Also, if you were to graph the equation y=x^(1/3) for negative values of x before this change, you would get nothing.
User-Defined Transform and Regression Dialogs are Now Resizable
The User-Defined transform dialog for defining transforms and the Function Edit dialog for defining regression models can now be resized and have their new sizes saved between sessions of SigmaPlot. This makes them more convenient to use by preventing frequent scrolling to make editing changes.
Improved User Interface for the Quick Transforms Dialog
Two Quick Transforms windows have been combined making the combined window much easier to handle. Additional transform functions were also added as buttons: median, nth, avg, choose, rgbcolor, runavg, fft, invfft, normdist, norminv, tdist, tinv, fdist and finv. Also, the constants “π“ and “e” were added.
Miscellaneous Features
Using Unicode Characters in the Worksheet on the Graph Page and in Reports
Here is an example of Unicode Russian characters in the graph:
User Settings are now Preserved for New Versions of SigmaPlot
Every change that the user makes in SigmaPlot is saved as a setting (saved in the spwUserSettings.ini file). From SigmaPlot 14 on, a new version of SigmaPlot will use the previous file of settings so that the user will “see” SigmaPlot exactly as it was before.
New Ribbon Layouts for Different Types of Workflows
There are now four different ribbon layouts for users that have specific uses:
- Default
- Compact
- Graphing
- Analysis
A good example of using the new configurations to speed up the workflow is in the Compact configuration. Here, the Worksheet tab has both worksheet and analysis commands and the Graph tab has both graph creating and editing commands. This shows the power of the new configurations as it saves a lot of switching back and forth between tabs.
Worksheet Tab
Graph Tab
Export Button is now also on the Main Button
The user can use the Main button and not repeatedly return to the Home tab to export.
New Macro Method for Exporting any Graph Page Selection
A new macro method has been added for the Auto Graph Item data type called ExportGraph and is used to export any selection on a graph page to a file. The method has seven arguments. From left to right, the arguments are filename, image file format and dpi, color resolution in bits, selection flag, height and width. This is used for both writing macros and in macro recording when running the Graph Export Dialog.
Added a Save All command to the Main Button
You can now save all open notebooks with one click.
Two New Macros Using Indexed Data for Graphing
Two new macros have been added to Macro Data Sets.jnb and SigmaPlot Macro Library.jnb. These macros (Box Plot, Using Indexed Data, Error Bar Plots Using Indexed Data) show how indexed data is used in graphing, expanding what SigmaStat does in result graphs.
Sample Data Sets Available from Help
Help now has a SigmaPlot Samples item from which sample data sets can be opened. Notebooks for Graphs, Statistical Tests, Macro Data Sets, Transforms and Nonlinear Regression are available.
New Macro Automation Method to Determine a Worksheet Column Length
A new automation method has been added on the automation DataTable object given by long ColumnLength (long col). This method finds the length of a column defined from the first row to the last non-empty row. A return value of zero shows that the column is empty.
Data Can Now be Extracted from a Result Graph More Easily
Data for a Result Graph is contained internally and not in a worksheet. You can now extract the data from a Result Graph by selecting the Data button in the Navigate group of the Home tab. A Result Graph must be in focus. The tooltip for the Data button will say “View Graph Data.” A new section will be created with a worksheet containing the data. This allows extracting the data for a Result Graph and placing it into a worksheet.
