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Using spreadsheets to divide algebraic expressions and find roots of polynomials
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2016
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In a recent paper on Horner’s Method [1], which includes a compact method for dividing expressions, we mentioned that some Computer Algebra Systems (CASs) such as DERIVE could be used to make the calculations, but that such programs, even when obtained through educational establishments, are overly expensive especially when most PCs have spreadsheets on them that could equally well do the calculations. Here we describe the use of an Excel spreadsheet to divide one expression by another, first by the method of detached coefficients and second by Horner’s Method of Synthetic Division (or simply synthetic division). A third example uses Horner’s Method to replace x by (x + c) to form a new expression [2], useful in the determination of the roots of a polynomial.
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- Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2003