MATH   Using Microsoft Works

(by Karen Vaughan, Pitt County Schools)

This worksheet of SEVEN PROBLEMS is a step-by-step process that will introduce you to creating data charts and graphs using a spreadsheet.  As you finish each problem, you will copy the work to a word document.  Your teacher will give you directions on turning in either a disk or a paper copy of this document.

Setup:
Double click on the Microsoft Works for Windows icon, double click on Microsoft Works, click Start Works now, click Create a New Work Processing Document.  On the top left of the page, type your name and period.  Enter to get the cursor to the next line, type "Problem #1", enter, and leave the cursor there.  Now click on File on the menu bar, click Create a New File, and select Spreadsheet.  You now have both Word 1 and Sheet 1 open.  You can toggle between these documents by clicking on Window on the Menu bar and selecting the one that you want.

With Word 1 showing, change the dimensions of the page to give a larger working space.  Select File, Page Set-up, and change the left and right margins to .75 and change the top and bottom margins to .5, click OK.  Switch back to Sheet 1.
 
 

Problem #1.  Mr. Hotfoot is traveling at a constant 60 mph for 5 hours.  Make a table of data for (time, total distance traveled).  Put this data on a spreadsheet and graph it on a scatter plot.

Time	Total Distance
0	0
1	60
2	120
3
4
5

Directions: 

Think through this problem and fill in the previous chart:

1. On Sheet1, there is a grid of cells...the columns are named with letters and the rows are named with numbers.  In cell A1, type in TIME , enter or cursor to cell B1, type in TOT DIST (for total distance).  Under TIME , enter 0, cursor down, enter 1, continue until you enter 5.  In the distance column, enter the number of miles that Mr. Hotfoot would drive in the designated hours.  Your time data is in column A, cells A2 to A7 and your distance data in column B, cells B2 to B7.  Highlight the title cells and use the options on the menu bar to center, underline, and bold these words.  Highlight the numbers in the chart and center them in the cells.
   
   
2. Make a graph by first highlighting all the cells (the titles and data) by clicking and dragging.  Click the chart icon on the menu bar (on right between & and ?).  Click on arrow under question "What kind of chart do you want?".  Select x-y scatter.  Type in chart title " Mr. Hotfoot ".  Select "add border" and "add grid lines".  The graph will appear on the right side of the page, select OK.  This document is titled "Sheet1-Chart1".
   
   
3. The graph for Mr. Hotfoot goes from 0 to 5 on the x axis with a scale of 1 and from 0 to 300 on the y axis with a scale of 50.  You can change the scale of your graph on either the x or y axis.  for example, if you wanted the scale on the y axis to be 60 units, select Format on the menu bar, select vertical (y) axis, type in 60 in the interval.  Notice the change.  For this worksheet, leave the y scale as 50 by retyping in 50 or auto.
   
   
4. Move both the data and the graph over to Word 1.  First move the table.  On Sheet1, highlight the data chart click Edit, select Copy, select Window, click Word1, make sure the cursor is below "Problem #1", click Edit, select Paste.  Now move the graph.  Click Window on the menu bar, select the Sheet1-Chart1 (you do not need to highlight the graph), click Edit, select Copy, change back to the Word1, put your cursor on the right side of the table then hit the tab key, click Edit, select Paste.  (Notice that you use Copy -this is done so that if you make a mistake the original is still on the Sheet1 and you can repeat the process).  Resize the graph to fit beside the chart by clicking anywhere outside of graph, then click on graph, see gray "handles" appear around graph, move cursor over the bottom left corner, see resize message, click and drag to make it smaller.  When you get the graph beside the table, save this document using  8 letters of your name, such as "MaryTayl".  Get ready for the next problem by changing back to Sheet1-Chart1 and closing it, go to Sheet1, highlight data, and delete.
    
    

2.  Mr. Coolfoot begins his five hour trip traveling at 60 mph for the first hour, but slows down to 50 mph for the second hour.  He continues to slow down 10 mph for each of the following hours.  Enter your data (time, total distance traveled) in a spreadsheet and graph it on a scatter plot.

Directions:
Type in cell A1, TIME , and in cell A 2 TOT DIST .  Enter data.  Highlight data, click on chart icon on the menu bar, select x-y scatter, border, and grid.  Type in title, "Mr. Coolfoot".  Change the dimensions of this graph so that it will be similar to the graph in #1, select Format on menu bar, Vertical (y) axis, change maximum to 300, leave interval at 50.  Return to Sheet1, highlight the data chart, click Edit, select Copy, use Window to toggle back to Word1 (titled with your name), below the answer for #1, type "Problem #2", enter to get cursor on the next line, click Edit, select Paste.  Next move the graph from the Sheet1-Chart1 to the word document but make sure the cursor is in the correct place before you paste the graph.  Use the "handles" to resize so the graph is beside the table Save your Word1 (your name) after you finish each problem.
 
 

3.  Ms. Twinkletoes begins her five hour trip traveling only 30 mph for the first hour, but increases her speed by 10 mph for each of the following hours.  Enter this data in a spreadsheet and graph it on a scatter plot.

Directions:
Set up the data table and enter your data.  Make a graph.  Highlight each one and copy to the word document.  You should be able to get the tables and graphs for these 3 problems on one page.  Go to File, select Print Preview to see whether you need to word process this paper any more.
 
 

4.  On the Word Document, type at least 3 sentences comparing the graphs for these three preceding problems.  Comment on the shape of the graph and the reasons for this shape.

 

5.  Alice and Bert live in two towns, Ahoskie and Beaufort,  which are located 800 miles apart.  They decide to visit somewhere in between their towns.  They both leave their homes at 8:00 AM and travel toward the other town.  However, their speed is different.  Fast Alice travels at 80 mph and Smart Bert travels at 60 mph.  How many miles away from Beaufort do they meet and at what time??  Set up a spreadsheet with Column A having the time data (from 0 hours to 10 hours), column B having Bert's distance from his home, and column C having Alice's distance from Berts' home.  Graph both on one graph to answer the two questions.

Directions:

1. Enter your data in Columns A, B, and C.  (Point of reference: cell A12 is 10, cell B12 is 600, and C12 is 0).  Another way, a shorter way, to enter data on a spreadsheet is to use formulas.  Review the data in Column A and Column B.  What do you do to data in Column A to get data in Column B?  Your answer should be "to multiply it by 60".  Click on E2.  Now click on blank line below the menu bar, type in =, click on cell A2, type in * ( for multiplication), type in 60, enter.  You will get 0 in cell E2.  Click E2 and drag down to E12 to highlight the cells.  Select Edit on menu bar, select Fill Down.  Does the data appear?  Is it the same data as Column B?  To see why this happened, click anywhere off the highlighted cells, now click any cell in Column E, and look at the formula bar.  This is the Power of Algebraic Formulas!!!  Continue by finding a formula for the data in Column C.  What do you do to data in Column A to get data in Column C?  In this case, Alice starts 800 miles from Bert, but gets closer by 80 miles every hour so the formula is 800-80 * Column A.  Click on F2, click on formula line, type =, type 800-("dash" for subtraction), click on A2, type in * (multiplication), type in 80, enter.  You should get 800.  Click on cell F2 and drag down to cell F12 to highlight.  Select, Edit, Fill Down.  Do you get the same data as you have in Column C?
   
   
2. To summarize, you have two ways to enter data on a spreadsheet.  You can manually enter the data or you can use a formula to enter data.  Remember that you always begin a formula with =.  Make a graph of these two sets of data by highlighting all three columns, A,B,C.  Clicking on graph icon, select x-y scatter, add border and grid lines, type in chart title as "Alice and Bert Cross Paths", click OK.
   
   
3. Predict how far from Bert's home will they meet?________and at what time?_____________  Copy and Paste your data table and graph back to Word1 (titled with your name).  Make sure the cursor is in the correct location before you paste.  Below the graph, type in the questions and your answers.
    
    

Problem #6.  (2-D Geometry)  Use square tiles to explore the patterns of area and perimeter.  Lay 8 tiles in a row.  Collect the data (length, width, area, perimeter).  The first data will be (8,1,8,18).  Add a second row of 8 square tiles under the first row and collect the data.  Continue this process for a total of 6 times.  Put the data in a spreadsheet in Columns A,B,C,D.  Make scatter graphs for (width, area) and (width, perimeter).  Discuss the graphs and the meaning for area and perimeter in this problem.  Predict the area and perimeter on the 9th time.

Directions:
Enter data on Sheet1.  Column  A is length, column B is width, column C is area, column D is perimeter.  Highlight data in columns B,C, and D.  Click graph icon, select x-y scatter, border, and grid lines, enter.  Change the horizontal axis to minimum of 0, maximum of 7, scale of 1.  Change the vertical axis to minimum of 0, maximum of 60, scale of 10 by selecting Format menu.  To help fit this data table to your paper, make it smaller by changing the 12 point type to 8 point  (remember to highlight first) and then reduce the width of the column by clicking of Format, Column Width, change it to 8.  Copy and Paste the data table and graph to Word1 (titled with your name).
 
 

Problem #7: (3-D Geometry)  Use square cubes for this data collection.  Begin with one cube, 1x1x1.  Collect data (length of side, # cubes, volume, surface area).  The first data will be (1,1,1,6).  Stack four 1 unit cubes to get a cube 2x2x2.  Collect data: (2,8,8,24).  Build a 3x3x3 cube.  Collect data.  Look for a pattern and a formula.  Enter data in spreadsheet for up to 7x7x7 cube. Graph.

Directions:
Enter data on Sheet1.  Column A is SIDE, column B is # CUBES, column C is VOLUME, and column D is SURFACE AREA.  Abbreviate these titles (SIDE, # CUBES, VOL., SUR AREA).  Figure out the formula that will find the data in columns B,C,D from the data in Column A.  You will explain this on your Word document after you paste your work.  What did you find out about the data in columns B and C?  Examine the data in column C and D.  Notice when volume is larger than surface area and when surface area is larger than volume?  Highlight all columns and copy the data table to your word document.  Before you graph, eliminate column B by highlighting and deleting it.  Move columns C over to Column B by highlighting, Edit, Cut, then move cursor to top of column B, Edit, Paste.  Also move Column D to Column C Highlight the three data columns and make a graph.  Move to the Word document.

Below the table and graph, explain the formulas that you used to derive the original columns B, C, and D and comment on the graphs and your conclusions.

Final Preparation:  REMEMBER to word process your paper so that it is organized and neat before you print or save the final form to the disk.  You should be able to get Problems 1-3 on the first page and problems 4-7 on the second page.

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