Calculations
Doing calculations
A calculation can be set up with two commands in SM-Marks Online, either the,
- Help|Calculation Assistant command, or
- Edit|Calculation command.
The Calculation Assistant is the easiest way to set up a calculation and is the recommended way to start doing calculations in SM-Marks Online. Refer to the Tutorial topic in the Introduction section for an example of using the Calculation Assistant.
The Calculation Assistant is suitable for doing most calculations, but it cannot do some of the less common calculations such as linear mapping. Also the Calculation Assistant cannot edit or change a calculation once it has been created.
For example, if you set up a weighted total with six tasks with the Calculation Assistant, and later need to add another task to the weighting or change one of the weights, the Edit|Calculation command must instead be used to do this. For this reason, it is recommended that you also learn how to use the Edit|Calculation command as well. Browse the How do I section for examples of setting up calculation with the Calculation Assistant.
Where results are stored
When using the Calculation Assistant you have the choice of selecting the task that will store the results, or to create a new task to store the results in.
With the Edit|Calculation command the results are always stored in the current task when the command is selected. The name of this task is shown on the Edit|Calculation form. It is important to understand that the current task when choosing the command stores the calculation results, which will overwrite anything already in that column.
When using the Edit|Calculation command, first tag the task that is to store the results of the calculation. This task shown cannot be used in the calculation, because it is the destination of the calculated results.