Graphical Solution of Equations

This resource is an interactive excel program to enable students to investigate the solution of polynomial equations up to cubics using a graphical method.

The program shows the graphs of cubic equations and the equivalent tables of values. There is a set of questions requiring students to solve equations graphically and confirm their solutions algebraically. They can amend the coefficients of cubic, quadratic or linear equations in order to draw the graphs and see the points of intersection.

One interactive sheet shows the graph of a cubic function and a straight line. Students alter the gradient and intercept of the straight line in order to solve an equation related to the given cubic function.

There are five sheets of questions suitable for duplication and use in the classroom. These are mainly related to simultaneous linear equations and problems related to quadratic equations.

Note
This program was designed to be viewed on a screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768. Users may have to adjust the resolution of their screen for the pages to display as was originally intended. The program uses macros which need to be enabled on a machine.