Both Excel and Calc now support array constants in formulas:
{1;2;3} --> (1, 2, 3)
SUM( {1;2;3} ) --> 6
2^{1;2;3} --> (2, 4, 8)
It is often useful to have this sort of simple constant series, and it's
not so bad to manually enter three numbers, but suppose you need 1..32,
or 1..132?
I recently came across this formula in a tip for Excel[1]:
=2^(ROW(INDIRECT("1:8")))
which (in an array context) is a convenient, if ugly, way of generating
2^{1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8} --> (2, 4, 8, ... 256)
Without having to write it all out.
Is it worth thinking about extending the array constant syntax to allow
a simple series to be written clearly and easily? Something like:
{1..8} --> (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Since work is already being done to standardize the spreadsheet formula
syntax, maybe now is a good time to consider adding something like this
(as if it wasn't complicated enough already ;-).
<Joe
[1] It works in Calc if you use "A1:A8".
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