Bringing symbolic variables out of excel

[ptc-3031221]

At several points, I've been interested in typing symbolic variables into MS Excel, or even short sequences of calculations, and then importing them into Mathcad, and having Mathcad recognize them as symbolic variables or functions, but I could never figure out how to do this. I tried to use the string function that converts strings to numbers (str2num), but it seemed to only work for strings that were actual numbers (like '56', not like 'x'). Is there a way to do this?

[RichardJ]

No, there is no realistic way to do what you are asking. In principle you could write a VBA program in Excel that would modify the XML of a Mathcad worksheet. In practice that would be a major undertaking though, and hardly likely to be worth the effort.

[ptc-3031221]

Mr. Jackson,

Thanks for the advice. I have found efficient ways to avoid needing to do this so far, but I feel like I might want to do it at some point for something. You're right, I don't want to go to the trouble of using VBA code in Excel to accomplish this.

Thanks!

[MikeArmstrong]

Why use excel at all then?

Mike

[StuartBruff]

... As an aside, conversion of strings to symbol names and vice versa is one of my many long-standing feature request and that facility would have handled this particular need.

Stuart

[MikeArmstrong]

I have noticed that you have requested this many times - is this what drove you to writing multiple string functions? To try and accommodate?

Mike

[StuartBruff]

Mike Armstrong wrote:

I have noticed that you have requested this many times - is this what drove you to writing multiple string functions? To try and accommodate?

Mike

Oh, them? No, I think this request originated before my string functions - the latter arose because I needed to create tables, produce complex strings and manipulate html (of course, what I've also requested is the ability to handle and display formatted strings in place of the current very limited capability (particularly, getting rid of the annoying quotes and displaying Greek characters)