Origin (software)

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Origin

Developer:	OriginLab Corporation
Latest release:	7.5
OS:	Windows
Use:	Plotting
License:	Proprietary
Website:	http://www.originlab.com/

Origin is scientific graphing and data analysis software package, produced by OriginLab Corporation, that runs on Microsoft Windows. All operations can be executed through either graphically (through menus or dialog boxes) or programmatically. Origin has its own C/C++ compiler with built-in vector and matrix support.

Origin supports over sixty built-in 2D, 3D, image, and contour graphs. All graphs are created by using a graph template. Once a graph is constructed, modifications can be made by double-clicking on the graph element and using a dialog box to specify the format change. Customized graph formats can be saved as either a template for plotting other data, or as a graph theme to be applied to other existing graphs.

Data can be explored and analyzed either in worksheets or graphs. Data analysis tools include statistics, signal processing, curve fitting and peak analysis. Origin also features a nonlinear least squares fitter. Global fitting can be performed where multiple datasets are simultaneously fit, typically to different fitting function models, while sharing one or more parameters between datasets.

Origin can export publication quality graphs to a number of file formats, including EPS, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PDF, and WMF.

[edit] History

Origin was first invented for use solely with microcalorimeters manufactured by MicroCal Inc. The software was used to graph the instruments data, and perform nonlinear curve fitting and parameter calculation.

The software was first published for the public in 1992 by Microcal Software, which later was renamed to OriginLab Corporation.