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The Virtual Textbook
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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.
Gradient
This excel program contains a series of interactive spread sheets designed to explore the concept of a gradient of a curve.
The first activity illustrates that the gradient of a function, at a point P, is the gradient of a chord PQ as the length of PQ tends to zero. The equation of the quadratic can be adjusted. The summary sheet summaries the findings for a particular example encouraging the student to deduce the formula for the gradient function.
The Function>Gradient activity provides the formula of 8 function, a mix of linear and quadratic, for students to differentiate to find the gradient function. Clicking on the empty cell reveals the answer.
The Gradient > Function activity requires the student to work backwards to find the original function given the gradient function.
The final activity provides a further opportunity to explore differentiation from first principles.
The workbook contains a further eight worksheets providing further questions for use in the classroom.
Note:
This program was designed by 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 user's machine.
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