Graph Parameters
The screen capture, below, shows the "Graph Parameters" screen from the old DOS version of the "Helge" program. There were quite a few selections available, but Option 3 was almost always the only screen that was used.


Graph Parameters, Figure 1

Our Windows version of the "Helge" software provides only two options:

  1. a screen that shows the original data expressed in counts per second with no correction for background, the background data expressed in counts per second, the net counts per second, and the "Individual Compoments" calibration curves adjusted to represent a fraction that was found in the individual, as shown in Graph Parameters, Figure 3, below, and
  2. a screen that shows the original data expressed in counts per second with no correction for background, the background data expressed in counts per second, the net counts per second, as shown in Graph Parameters, Figure 4, below.
Either of these may be chosen as the default screen to display at the end of an analysis.

Graph Parameters, Figure 2

These two options represent the default graphing conditions. They will be discussed one at a time with examples.

Plot the Subject, Background, Net Data and the Individual Components

This is one of the two default graphing options. The following paragraph and Figure Auto-Analysis-09 have been copied verbatim from the "Data Analysis" chapter of this manual, rather than using a URL link to that part of the chapter.

In 5 to 15 seconds (depending on the speed of your processor and a number of other tasks which are being simultaneously performed), the screen will show the results of this analysis, as shown in the screen capture, below. Note that we see the subject gross counts per second, the red line, the background counts per second, the dark blue line, and the net counts per second, the black line. Additionally, we see the Compton spectrum, a light blue line that looks as if it has the characteristics of a straight line on a semi-log graph, and we see the potassium-40 spectrum, also a light blue line. The background spectrum as well as the Compton and potassium-40 spectra are shown in proportion to the amounts that the software found. This will be discussed further several paragraphs down under the heading "Results Values."The writer of this document, Lew Helgeson, prefers this type of presentation because it gives an opportunity to see how well the software analyzed the data. (Other options are possible where not so much information is shown. These options are chosen in the "Graph Parameters" section of this document.)


Graph Parameters, Figure 3

Plot the Subject, Background, and the Net Data Only

This optional default graph shows only the original data expressed in counts per second with no correction for background, the background data expressed in counts per second, the net counts per second, as shown in Graph Parameters, Figure 4, below.

Graph Spectrum


Graph Parameters, Figure 4

The screen capture above shows the subject, that ground, and net spectra from this analysis. Note that the individual components spectra are not displayed. This is a choice we made in writing the software so that you may see the data without any confusion from the individual components spectra. If you only want this type of display, then make the change in the "Graph Parameters" portion of this instruction manual.