Spreadsheets

1
Spreadsheets Mathematics!

• Maggie Niess
• Science and Mathematics Education, OSU
• niessm_at_onid.orst.edu

2
Spreadsheets and Mathematics

• Explore strategies and idea for guiding students
  in designing and creating dynamic spreadsheets as
  mathematics tools to explore and extend algebra
  and pre-algebra problem

• What are dynamic spreadsheets?
• How are dynamic spreadsheets created?
• How can creating spreadsheets be used to explore
  and extend algebra and pre-algebra?

3
Discover the dynamic magic of spreadsheets at the
Wizards school!

• Explore and learn some of Harry Potter's magic
  for passing his middle school mathematics classes
  at Hogwarts! Use spreadsheets for solving those
  pesky challenges and tricks.
• Alas, see why dynamic spreadsheets are Harry
  Potters secret for passing his mathematics
  classes with honors!

4
Hermiones Magic Squares

• Place the numbers 1-9 in the nine cells of this
  square so that the rows, columns and diagonals
  all add to 15!
• Use either paper and pencil, OR overhead numbers,
  OR post-it notes to find the solution.

5
Check out Hermiones dynamic spreadsheet in
action!

• DynamicMagicSquare.xls

6
Design Hermiones Dynamic Magic Square
Hermione_Magic_Square.xls
7
Dynamic Magic Square Problem
8
Which house do You belong in?
Click on the hat!
OR?
Ancient Wizardry legend says that if your bag of
Magic Beans (MMs) contains more of a specific
color, that is the Hogwarts house that you would
be placed. According to your MM data, which
house do you belong?
9
Explore some data
MM_Experiments.xls
10
Hogwarts MM Experiments
11
Harrys Magic Wands and Spreadsheets

• Harry Potters wand was so filled with magic
  that it recreated itself a zillion times over
  which means that he was left with lots of wands
  all identical!
• What can he do with them?
• His divination teacher, Professor Sibyll
  Trelawney, suggested that he could learn some
  algebra by exploring patterns with them.

12
Here is what Harry did

• Harry built a pattern of squares with the wands,
  imagining how many he needed for each number of
  squares as he increased the number of squares.
  He began with
• 1 square needing 4 wands,
• 2 squares needing 7 wands,
• 3 squares needing 10 wands, and
• 4 squares needing 13 wands.
• He saw he needed 3 wands for adding each square.
  Now, he thought he was done with this pattern.
• But then Professor Trelawney asked him how many
  wands he would need for 1000 squares or 1,000,000
  squares (after all the wands were increasing at
  an alarming rate!)

13
Finish Harrys thinking with a spreadsheet!
wands.xls
14
Reverse the magic!

• Help Harry figure out how to reverse the pattern
  so he can get rid of the mountain of wands. Use
  this spreadsheet to make sure your pattern works.
  Remember he has to figure out the pattern and
  then figure out how to un-do this pattern.
• wands1.xls

15
Harrys Magic Wands Crisis
16
Harry meets a vampire!

• The question is whether vampires really exist.
• Your task is to investigate this question using
  this spreadsheet.
• Vampires.xls

17
Harry meets a vampire!
18
Build a Vampire house for Hogwarts

• Which of these models is best for vampires?
• What is the cost of each of the models?
• Can Hogwarts afford the best model for the
  vampires?
• Explore these problems with Castle.xls

19
Build a Vampire house for Hogwarts
20
Help for you to continue
Maggies email niessm_at_onid.orst.edu

• Maggies website to download the spreadsheets
• http//oregonstate.edu/niessm/NWMath/
• Lots of mathematics spreadsheet problems with
  scaffolding ideas
• http//eusesconsortium.org/edu/problems.php
• ICT4U Middle School Spreadsheets Conference
  Special
• John Ley, Maggie Niess, Carol Rigg
• ISBN 978-0-9756925-4-7
• PO Box 132652, The Woodlands, TX 77393-2652