The Quantitative Quill

  • Predicting Diabetes: Comparing Logistic Regression, SVMs, and Random Forests

    While exploring Kaggle’s vast data science resources, I discovered an intriguing diabetes dataset and decided to develop a predictive model. The dataset structure is elegantly simple, featuring 8 independent variables and a target variable called Outcome, which identifies the presence or absence of diabetes. My objective is to create a robust model that can accurately…

  • Are US Police Trigger Happy?

    Recently, I stumbled upon a Washington Post article discussing the statistics of police-involved shootings and fatalities over recent years. The article referenced a comprehensive dataset, which I managed to download before encountering the paywall. This dataset documented all fatal police shootings spanning roughly a decade. While the data extended into 2024, I’ve excluded those entries…

  • Numerical Solutions to the Logistic Equation: Exploring Population Models in Spreadsheets

    Introduction The logistic equation is a fundamental mathematical model used to describe population growth in a constrained environment. It was first proposed by Pierre-François Verhulst in 1838 and is expressed as: Here, P represents the population size at time t, r is the intrinsic growth rate, and K is the carrying capacity of the environment,…

  • Solving a Simple Harmonic Oscillator with Spreadsheets

    Introduction In this post, we’ll explore how to solve a simple harmonic oscillator using the Finite Difference Method (FDM) in spreadsheets. The simple harmonic oscillator is a fundamental concept in physics, described by a second-order differential equation that models various oscillatory systems, such as springs, pendulums, and circuits. While such equations can be challenging to…

  • The Power of Differential Equations: A Backbone of Science and Engineering

    Differential equations, mathematical equations that relate a function and its derivatives, are the cornerstone of many scientific and engineering disciplines. They provide a powerful tool for modeling and understanding complex systems, from the laws of physics to the dynamics of biological populations. In physics, differential equations are used to describe the motion of objects, the…

  • Mastering XLOOKUP: The Ultimate Lookup Function for Scientists and Engineers

    Oftentimes, data is stored in tables and frequently needs to be accessed. Take, for example, this data set (taken from kaggle.com) that lists the refractive indices of glass as a function of the percentage of the various elements present in it. Imagine needing to quickly look up the elements of a glass with a particular…

  • Number Series in Excel

    Number series are important in many areas of mathematics (which in turn forms the backbone of various other fields, such as Physics and Engineering) for the evaluation of transcendental functions, integrals and differential equations. More often than not, the sum of a series represents an approximation of the function. For example, the value of the…

  • Matrices and Determinants in Excel

    Spreadsheets are excellent tools for understanding arrays. While arrays can be multi-dimensional in theory, it’s easiest to visualize them in terms of rows and columns, forming one or two-dimensional arrays. One-dimensional Array Two-Dimensional Array Arrays are always represented as rows x columns. And in many problems, it is useful to manipulate an entire array. Such…

  • VBA Loops

    VBA loop structures are similar to those of other programming languages. Looping is one of the few things that is extremely difficult to achieve with pure Excel alone. An If… Then statement, for instance, can be written within Excel and comparable results can be achieved. Loops, on the other hand, can be a lot trickier,…

  • VBA Conditional Statements

    Conditional statements are the building blocks of decision-making in programming. They allow programs to adapt their behavior based on specific conditions, creating intelligent and dynamic applications. In this post, let’s explore how we can use conditional statements in VBA to make our Excel projects smarter and more responsive. Types of Conditional Statements In VBA, we…