A flexible computer program for calculations in emission-spectrographic analysis

Abstract

A computer program has been written in FORTRAN IV to evaluate for spectrochemical analysis spectral information stored on photographic plates. With this program, ratios of line intensities are calculated from microphotometer readings; it includes the computation of the emulsion calibration function using either the two-step or seven-step method. A formatless data input technique is employed and use is made of descriptive headings and labels to facilitate the introduction of data. These headings and the codes used for labelling the readings are chosen so as to be readily understood by the spectrographer. The program is characterised by considerable flexibility with regard to the number of spectra and number of analytical and internal standard lines that can be used. The maximum number of spectra that can be evaluated is sixty and up to nineteen analytical lines can be present in each spectrum. The program contains many data checks, together with appropriate diagnostic messages, which are designed to avoid the presence of undetected errors in the results.