Saving on Tax - from the year 08-09

Soo, the good news is out!

the reduction in Tax is much better than everybody expected...
Not only the Standard deduction is increased, the slabs are also reshuffled for good..

I have an excel for you, for you to calculate yourself how much is in your kitty thanks to Mr. Finance Minister!!

Click here to download the file...

Note that the value to enter is the Taxable Income and not the Annual Income..
(Taxable income = Annual Income - Deductions like HRA, Medical, LTA, LIC....)

My Sudoku Solver - Next Version.

I am happy to share with you, my next Sudoku Solver - Beta2


In one of my previous posting, I told about the first Sudoku solver I had developed. Well, I could improve something and I think this is more helpful.

Unlike the original (beta), this new one (beta-2) do the solving in real logic. And is Interactive. I mean, the user can choose to explain the logic of each step. I think this will help the beginners very much. Also for others, it can come as handy if they are stuck at any position.

Click the above picture to go to the Downloading page..
or select Beta2 from http://www.esnips.com/web/Sudokusolverbeta/


Its was fun making this. I think its worth the sleep I lost over this, if atleast one person found it useful... Hope it does..

Its already early morning 4 'o clock.. I need to go to bed atleast now..

I created a Sudoku Solver..

I have created a Solver for Sudoku Puzzles.. It was exciting..


As you may have seen in one of my older post, I had started playing sudoku.. But then, in between I started thinking of making a solver in excel.. But that was all what I had got, just an interest.. Then i got a rough logic.. This weekend, I was thinking what to do! So I thought of giving it a try.. Same old destination.. Thanks to all those wonderful guys in Google Groups, I got the syntax for making functions.. The C/C++ fundamentals came handy as well.. One by one the pieces of the puzzle came together and less than 10 hours on the job, I got the first result.. That fealing is wonderfull..

So I have uploaded the file in the following location.. Check that out!
Its just the first cut..

http://www.esnips.com/web/Sudokusolverbeta

I had made an excel Electronic chart for Worldcup Football.
Along with it, this has been real fun creating & seeing the result, boz i never expected the result i got!!

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My first Custom Function in Excel..

The other day, I was trying to make an Excel for planning the tasks for about 5 people.. I havnt finished that yet, but in the process I got to explore something new in Excel and I thought I will share with you..



If you are Excel guru, this may be simple, but that was not the case for me!

I wanted to add N working days to a given date.. that means it should automatically account for the weekend days that come in between.. I searched the standard functions, and I couldnt find one. So i started making a custom function for the same, which i havent had a clue for. But thanks to the Internet and Google Group, I got the fundas of making one.. now the logic.. I got one and looked ok.. I posted that on the Google Group and was pointed out couple of bugs..

So this the out put.. It takes the Starting date, No of working days and (an optional) no of holidays in between.

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Here is how it works..

A1: Sept 5, 2006
A2: 5
A3: 2

A4: =addworkdays(A1, A2) Result : Sep 11, 2006
A4: =addwrokdays(A1, A2, A3) Result : Sep 13, 2006
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Here is the code..

if you may need it, copy the portion in Italics. In your excel, press Alt+F11, Insert->Module (if necessary), paste the code in Module and thats it..
Start using the function..


Function AddWorkDays(Date_St As Date, Work_Days As Integer, Optional Hol_days As Integer) As Date
Dim WeekDay_St, n_Weekends, n_Shift As Integer

'add Hol_days to Work_days
Work_Days = Work_Days + Hol_days

'Find the starting Week Day
WeekDay_St = WorksheetFunction.WeekDay(Date_St, 2)

'if sunday set as saturday
If (WeekDay_St = 7) Then
WeekDay_St = 6
End If

'Find the number of Weekends in between and calc no of days to add.
n_Weekends = WorksheetFunction.Ceiling((WeekDay_St + Work_Days - 1) / 5, 1) - 1
n_Shift = n_Weekends * 2 + Work_Days - 1

'Retun the final date
AddWorkDays = Date_St + n_Shift

End Function



Interestingly, thru Google Group, I came to know that there is a similar function in Excel already as WORKDAY. It is not part of the regular functions, but is included as an Add-Ins..

Tools-> Add-Ins and check the Analzsis Tool Pack. You may have to insert the CD. Not only this, but there are a whole lot of other functions as well. You can also add other Add-In.

So I created my Add-In. To do that, paste the code in a fresh workbook or File. Save as Excel Add-in (*.xla) to the Addins folder so that it gets loaded everytime.

But there are a few differences between my function (Addworkdays) and standard (Workday).. No, not only the name! :)

- WORKDAY may not function properly if the Start date is a weekend..
- WORKDAY needs dates as holidays and not numbers..

Although we all may curse Microsoft for the bad side of it, MS Excel is such a wonderful tool.. Its an Iceburg and most of us are satisfied with the TIP of it.. There will always be something to learn..

In the end, I chose to retain my function for my use boz of the differences..
And it was kind of satisfactory to find something new, evenif it is not Rocket science!

And if I can be of help related to this, pls let me know..

Click here to know more about Creating Custom Function..

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