Excel
and Mathematics Instruction: Some Examples
Shuzo Takahashi
shuzo.takahashi@und.nodak.edu
Spreadsheet programs such as Excel are widely used in teaching
mathematics in both college and secondary school. If we eliminate gridlines and
row and column headers from worksheets (in Excel, this can be done by selecting
Options, then View, from the Tools menu), worksheets look like the whiteboard
in a classroom. However, this board is equipped with powerful computing,
graphing, and drawing tools, which are extremely useful in teaching
mathematics. One can thus consider Excel worksheets as an electronic
whiteboard. It can be lots of fun to make educational materials with this tool.
Examples
Here are some sample math worksheets made using Excel. (A
word of warning: these worksheets have not been extensively tested. In
particular, they might not work with some systems. Bug reports are welcome.
Please send an email to shuzo.takahashi@und.nodak.edu.)
- Loan Workout
This Excel file graphically illustrates the meaning of expected value in
the setting of the Business Math project "Loan Workout."
- Who wants to be a millionaire?
This Excel file graphically illustrates the meaning of expected value in
the setting of the game show "Who wants to be a millionaire?"
Please see the Power Point file below for the context of this activity.
- A
Fun Approach to Teaching Expected Value
This is the Power Point file used for my talk in Entry Level Mathematics
Colloquium, September
18, 2001.
- Graph
This worksheet allows students to immediately see changes in the graph of
y = mx+b when parameters m and b are changed.
- Pythagorean
By playing with this puzzle, students may discover a proof of the
Pythagorean theorem.
- Riemann Sum
This worksheet illustrates how Riemann sums approach the area under a
curve.
- Secant Tangent Line
This worksheet illustrates how secant lines approach the line tangent to a
curve.