Using Spreadsheets in Mathematics
by
Teisha M. Wright

For some time I thought of spreadsheets as being a great use the businesses, but I never thougth about how powerful spreadsheets can be in the classroom. For instance, in an ivestigation into Fibanoci's sequence teachers can quickly demonstrate how rapidly the numbers in the sequence grow.
Following is a spreadsheet that incorporates the Fibonaci Sequence, the ratio of terms in the sequence and also the Lucas' Sequence and the ratio of the terms in that sequence.

This spreadsheet is set-up in such a way that the starting number of the sequence can be changed , and thus changing the entire sequence, by simply changing the number in E2. This is particularly useful when discussing the ratio of the terms. The spreadsheet is instantly updated by changing one cell. For the sake of space I only show the first few terms of the sequence. However, with spreadsheets in the classroom, teachers can show a large part of the sequence in a relatively short amount of time. This spreadsheet is particularly useful when discussing the golden ratio. Students can investigate whether the limit of the ratio is always the same when using different number to begin the sequence.


This is a part of the same spreadsheet that shows the Lucas' Sequence.

If you look closely you will notice that the ratio columes seem to have the same numbers. If you could view more of this spreadsheet you would see that the ratios of the terms converge to 1.61803399. This is true for both sequences and it does not matter what the starting number is .


View this spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel

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