It's pretty obvious that there are lots of ways to do a fret calc, and it's hard to say that one is better than another. I've used Word just because it's what I use for just about everything. Excel would be a step easier for most people, and of course a program in a favorite language is handy. A piece of string and a ruler also works if you're careful (although a good beam compass is a bit more accurate).

For the sake of argument - without expecting anyone else ever to use it:

THE THEORY:

The ratio of the string length to one fret divided by the string length to the next (lower) fret is the 12th root of 2 for an equitempered scale.

R = 2^(1/12)

It's more convenient to work down from the full string length (0 fret = the nut), so invert the ratio

1/R = 1/(2^(1/12)

For a string length A (bridge to nut) the distance from the nut to fret n is then

Dn = A*(1 – (1/(2^(1/12))^n)

THE PRACTICE:

If this equation is written out properly in Word:

Fret {seq fretno}   Distance from nut = {=650&1-(1/(2^(1/12))^{seq fretno \c}))\#0.000000}

THE ABOVE SINGLE LINE IS ALL THE "PROGRAM" YOU NEED.

All one needs to do is copy that line and paste as many times as the number of wanted frets, select the whole mess and hit an F9, to get:

Fret 1   Distance from nut = 36.481697
  Fret 2   Distance from nut = 70.915833
  Fret 3   Distance from nut = 103.417330
  Fret 4   Distance from nut = 134.094658
  Fret 5   Distance from nut = 163.050200
  Fret 6   Distance from nut = 190.380592
  Fret 7   Distance from nut = 216.177047
  Fret 8   Distance from nut = 240.525659
  Fret 9   Distance from nut = 263.507688
  Fret 10  Distance from nut = 285.199834
  Fret 11  Distance from nut = 305.674494
  Fret 12  Distance from nut = 325.000000
  Fret 13  Distance from nut = 343.240848
  Fret 14  Distance from nut = 360.457917
  Fret 15  Distance from nut = 376.708665
  Fret 16  Distance from nut = 392.047329

Maybe I should mention that the { and } are Field Markers and not just characters. They must be inserted using Insert|Field (or Ctl-F9) and the stuff inside them typed after they're put into the document. The funny little \#0.000000 at the end just tells Word to display 6 decimal places. It would of course be "prettier" using tabs to align columns, but that's a bother in html.

John