id: 06145562
dt: j
an: 2013b.00681
au: Taylor, Daniel; Moore-Russo, Deborah
ti: Capitalizing on the dynamic features of Excel to consider growth rates and
    limits.
so: MathAMATYC Educ. 3, No. 2, 17-20 (2012).
py: 2012
pu: American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), Memphis,
    TN
la: EN
cc: I20 U70
ut: calculus; graphs; courseware; technology uses in education; technology
    integration; teaching methods; educational strategies; mathematical
    models; mathematics instruction; algebra; investigations; spreadsheets;
    knowledge representation; functions; power functions; exponential
    functions
ci: 
li: http://www.amatyc.org/publications/mathamatyceducator/February2012/index.html#taylor
ab: Summary: It is common for both algebra and calculus instructors to use
    power functions of various degrees as well as exponential functions to
    examine and compare rates of growth. This can be done on a chalkboard,
    with a graphing calculator, or with a spreadsheet. Instructors often
    are careful to connect the symbolic and graphical (and occasionally the
    tabular) representations of the functions. However, the graphs that are
    typically used for this are static. The most recent versions of
    Microsoft Excel allow instructors to illustrate the connections between
    the symbolic, tabular, and graphical representations of the equations
    through quick generation of the function graphs. This requires only
    minimal input including three components: the equation of the function,
    its starting point, and the incremental changes between independent
    variable values. By formatting the spreadsheet to depend on these three
    things, the input values (and the calculated output values) are easily
    manipulated, allowing for changes in scale.
rv: