For engineers who already know the math—but still lose projects. For the last few years, I’ve been sharing technical guides here on Mechanical Design Handbook —how to size a motor, how to calculate fits, and (as you recently read) how to choose between timing belts and ball screws. But after 25 years in industrial automation, I realized something uncomfortable: Projects rarely fail because the math was wrong. They fail because: The client changed the scope three times in one week. A critical vendor lied about a shipping date (and no one verified it). The installation technician couldn’t fit a wrench into the gap we designed. University taught us the physics. It didn’t teach us the reality. That gap is why I wrote my new book, The Sheet Mechanic . This is not a textbook. It is a field manual for the messy, political, and chaotic space between the CAD model and the factory floor. It captures the systems I’ve used to survive industrial projec...
Figure 1: The completed Gauss Elimination Solver ready for action.
Putting It All Together
We have reached the conclusion of our 6-part series on building a Linear Equation Solver in Excel.
Over the course of this tutorial, we have moved from the raw mathematical theory of Gauss Elimination to writing efficient VBA Code, and finally designing a professional User Interface that handles dynamic matrix scaling.
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Video Demonstration
Below is a video clip demonstrating the final result. You will see how the program takes user input, automatically resizes the matrix (as discussed in Part 5), and solves for the unknowns instantly.
By following the code provided in Part 1 and Part 4, you can build this exact tool yourself.
Video 1: Live demonstration of the dynamic Excel Solver tool.
Complete Series Recap
If you missed any part of this tutorial, here is the complete roadmap to building your own solver:
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1. The Core Code:
Part 1: Basic Theory & VBA FunctionGet the raw VBA code to solve [A]{x}={B}. -
2. The Math:
Part 2: Mathematical DerivationUnderstanding Forward Elimination and Back Substitution. -
3. Error Handling:
Part 3: Partial PivotingHow to prevent "Division by Zero" errors. -
4. The Interface:
Part 4: Designing the UXCreating menus, buttons, and input forms. -
5. Scaling Up:
Part 5: Dynamic Matrix ResizingHandling 10x10 or larger systems automatically.
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Why build it yourself?
Downloading a black-box file teaches you nothing. By coding this tool step-by-step, you gain the skills to automate any engineering calculation in Excel, making you a more valuable engineer.
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