computing program

[Thunderchild]

I need to calculate production costs, because there is also the trasport this means that I have branches in my calcuiloation making exel a bit useless as it has to be like:
FOR 2 Kg 6 �/x
FOR 2-20 Kg 8.5�/x
ecc. or something like if x=y then:.....
this is a bit like turbo pascal or basic.
is thhere a simple program that runs under windows that will do this so that whoever is going to use the calculation is not going to end up with a wrong figure.
I am using exel but this means thhat for each weight range there is a seperate colum and if the wrong one is used the end price is going to be way to high or too low.
thanks

[heathfield]

Excel can do this for you if you create a formula made up of nested 'if...then' routines, and produce an answer from ranges of input values. After entering a quantity in a cell, the program will look at the entered value and decide what factor should be applied to obtain the required result.

[rojash]

You can use if..then...else... in Excel. The syntax is like this:

In English: If x>y then value=1 else value=2

In Excel: if(a1>b1,1,2)

You can also nest if..then..else like this:

if(a1>b1,1,if(a1<b2,3,4))

[rojash]

Oops! sorry, H, I must have been typing while you were posting!

[Thunderchild]

welll i would also like to make it more orderley and try to prevent errors being made by making it a question type thing like you could in basic or turbo pasclal. basically i need a program or very very simple programming language to implement this with not much difficulty. basic would be great but it runs on dos and that is a no no and i havn't the foggiest where to start in visual basic

[heathfield]

No problem, rojash, when typing my reply I found I'd forgotten how the actual strings went - you've jogged my memory with examples, thanks!

[heathfield]

Thunderchild - Oops! Looks like we were both typing together. The thing about Excel is that it's a powerful program designed to do exactly what you are trying to achieve. I'd seriously advise you to contact someone who is familiar with Excel's workings and have them demonstrate its eminent suitability for your pupose. It would only take a few minutes of your time. The only way you'd end up with a wrong result is if a wrong figure was entered in the first place. This is known as 'Garbage in, Garbage out' and could still happen with whatever form of programming you chose.