Calculation with LinkNotions
General explanations
When to use a visual spreadsheet?
Calculation
General explanations
Some notions cannot have a value: person, car, philosophy.
Other notions can have a value: speed, weight, price
In LinkNotions, you can assign a notion a value and calculate the value of a notion with the values of other notions.
You can even assign to a notion different sub-names with sub-values.
This allows you to calculate numbers, but you even can calculate decisions.
Calculation turns a concept map into a visual spreadsheet.
Calculate with a visual spreadsheet
You can calculate the value of a notion with the values of other notions:
Example: Surface = Length x Width
You can also calculate the value of a notion with other values of the same notion:
We see that we can approach the problem in two ways:
1. With 3 Notions each containing 1 main value:
- Notion A: Length of the terrain: 50
- Notion B: Width of the terrain: 20
- Notion C: Surface of the terrain (Length x Width): 1000
2. With a notion containing 2 subnames and a main subname
- The name of the notion is terrain
- The main subname is “Surface” whose value (1000) is calculated with the value of the two subnames.
- The first subname is “Length” and its value is 50.
The second subname is “Width” and its value is 20.
Note:
The diagram below is not a simple image but a published interactive diagram. It shows both ways to solve the problem of calculating the surface.
Use it online! You can change the numbers. To do this, click on a notion (a square) and enter a new number with the keyboard. Then hit the “Enter” key or click anywhere in the diagram. The software will recalculate the values of the influenced notions.
Enlarge the above diagram about the calculation of a surface
In fact, it works like a spreadsheet (Excel, Google sheets, Framacalc, …), but with the possibility of giving content to the notions. In addition, you can move the notions without loosing the content, including the value, of these changes.
In LinkNotions, each notion can contain countless information, images, links, documents, files, …, divided into innumerable subdivisions (tabs). This is impossible to achieve in a spreadsheet.
The principle is simple:
- Each notion can have a main value.
- Each notion can have one or more sub-values.
- The main value can be calculated using the sub-values.
- The main value can be calculated using one or more values of other notions.
The 5 Buttons for the calculation in the toolbar:
You find the 5 buttons at the top of the diagram in the toolbar.
From left to right:
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Show / hide the “Calculations” window
In the “calculations” window you can enter all the necessary data for the calculation of an activated concept.
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Recalculate values
Click this button if you have modified data to recalculate the values.
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Show / hide values on notions
Allows the rectangle to appear under each notion. This rectangle contains the value (s) of each notion.
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Show / hide the table of values
This table contains all the notions and their data for the calculation. This is another way to enter the data.
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Explanations for the calculation
Here you will find explanations necessary to master the calculation with LinkNotions.
How to proceed ?
Create a new diagram in your account: Open your account and click on “Create Workspace”.
In the diagram, create several notions, for example the 3 notions (A; B; C). In the diagram: Double-click an empty square and write the name in the window that opens.
Click on notion A (1) to activate it.
Click on the “f (x)” button (2) to display the “Calculations” window (3).
Enter the amount 1000 in the “Main expression” field (4).
Click the “Enter” button or click “Save & Calculate” (5) or click anywhere in the diagram. The entered amount is now saved and the entered amount is put into the calculations. In the lower rectangle of notion A you now see the amount 1000 (6).
Note: Above one has made the entries for the calculation in the window “Calculations”. You can do them also in the table of values (7) and in the window “Properties of the notion” (To access it, double-click the notion and click on “Modify”).
Do the same for the notion B by including for example € 2,500.
For the Notion C, enter the formula (id1+id3) in the “Expression” field (2) (see image below).
Note: In LinkNotions, each concept is automatically assigned an id-number when it is created. This one never changes, even if the notion is misplaced. You can reference a notion (among others) with this id-number. You find the id-number of a notion in the tooltip (7) by placing the cursor on the notion as well as in the window “Info” (8) of the notion. In our case “id1” is the nr. fixed of the Notion A and “id3” is the nr. Notion B.
Press the “enter” key or click “Save & Calculate” (4) or click anywhere in the diagram. In the bottom rectangle of the Notion C you now see the amount 3,500 (9).
Entries in the Calculation overview
The Calculation overview repeats all the notions of the diagram by limiting itself to the information concerning the calculation.
You access it by clicking the “:f (x)” button (see the graph below (1))
It offers an easy possibility to enter in a single table information of different notions.
The structure for each notion is identical to the one you encountered in the “Calculations” window. The inscriptions are the same.
The notions are presented in alphabetical order.
You find at the top two filters. These make it easy to find one or more notions.
Filter by name : Enter a word or part of a word, and you will only see the notions containing these letters in their name.
Filter by subname : Enter a word or part of a word, and you will only see the notions containing these letters in their subname.
To leave the table and return to the diagram you can
click “Close” at the top of the Calculation overview
click “:f (x)” in the toolbar (1).
Additional Information :
Examples:
Physics: Calculation of Speed
Economics : Value of a share ; Keynesien model ;
ULM Aviation : Take-off decision making
In « Preferences »
In the diagram at the top right click on “Preferences” (1) to open the window “Schema Properties” (2).
At the bottom of this window you will find the fields for calculation.
In the field “Units” (3)
You will find in the drop-down window all the units already listed in this diagram. At first, this list is empty.
To add a unit to the list, please proceed as follows:
Write the symbol of the unit in the “Symbol” field (4). For example €.
In the description field (5), you can write a description of the symbol. For example “Euro”. This will appear in the list of units, especially in the “Calculations” window (see below).
Now click on the diskette symbol (6) and the unit is added to the symbol list.
The “+” adds an additional unit.
The “x” deletes a unit from the list.
Here is an example of how units listed in “Preferences” appear in the “Calculations” window in the list of units.
You see that behind the symbols appear their descriptions.
In the field “Decimals”
You can specify how many decimal places are shown in the diagram.
Show calculation error log in view mode
By default, the error register is displayed.
In some cases it may be advantageous not to display the error register, especially if you publish a diagram on your web page for the use of your audience.
