The Spreadsheet in Mathematics Explorations

by LaShonda Davis

 

Using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, I want to able able to construct a graph for any function y = f (x). This can be done by generating a table of values with the x values in one colum and the y avlues in another.

The function I want to explore is

y = x^2 + 5x + 6

First I want to set up the spreadsheet.

x y = x^2 + 5x + 6
1 12
2 20
3 30
4 42
5 56
6 72
7 90
8 110
9 132
10 156
11 182
12 210
13 240
14 272
15 306
16 342
17 380

It becomes easier to set up the spreadsheet if you know the short cuts to take like autofill and cut and paste.

Then we will go into the graphing mode and select a x-y scatterplot.

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