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John Zeringue edited this page May 21, 2014 · 30 revisions

Topsoil

System Requirements

Topsoil will run on Windows (x86 and x64), Linux (x86 and x64), and Mac (x64 only). Topsoil requires the latest version of Java, the installer for which can be found here.

Installation

To install Topsoil, download the latest JAR file from the releases page.

Running Topsoil

To run Topsoil, simply double click on the JAR file.

A Simple Tutorial

To get started using Topsoil, let's walk through a simple use case that demonstrates the application's basic functionality.

Before starting, please install Topsoil.

After opening Topsoil, we first need to import some data. Copy the table below by first highlighting the text. Then, click on the Topsoil data table and paste it in by using the paste shortcut (control-v on Windows or command-v on Mac).

4corr 207*/235 % err 4corr 206*/238 % err err corr
29.165688743 1.519417676 0.712165893 1.395116767 0.918191745
29.031535970 1.799945600 0.714916493 1.647075269 0.915069472
29.002008069 1.441943510 0.709482828 1.324922704 0.918845083
29.203969765 1.320690194 0.707078490 1.216231698 0.920906132
29.194452092 1.359029744 0.709615006 1.248057588 0.918344571
29.293320455 1.424328137 0.710934267 1.309135282 0.919124777
28.497489852 1.353243890 0.686951820 1.245648095 0.920490463
29.218573677 1.383868032 0.715702180 1.271276031 0.918639641
28.884872020 1.264304654 0.702153693 1.164978444 0.921438073
28.863259209 1.455550200 0.700081472 1.335582301 0.917579003
29.014325453 1.614480021 0.701464404 1.478394505 0.915709384
29.917885787 1.564622589 0.725185047 1.434906094 0.917094067
30.159907714 1.488528691 0.724886106 1.366282212 0.917874287
28.963153308 1.480754780 0.698240706 1.359750830 0.918282249
29.350104553 1.513999270 0.711983592 1.384417989 0.914411266
29.979576581 1.595745814 0.724426340 1.458894294 0.914239775
29.344673618 1.551935035 0.714166474 1.420060290 0.915025602

Now that we have data, let's make it into a new chart. To do this, first click the "Error Ellipse Chart" button on the toolbar. A dialog should now appear asking you to choose the columns that correspond to each of the variables. For this example, Topsoil's default selection is correct, so ensure that the x- and y-errors are identified as 1σ and percentages (or else choose the correct options from the drop down menus) and press "Create chart".

Congratulations! You have successfully created your first chart with Topsoil!

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