Spreadsheet Workshop Agenda
Summer AAPT Meeting Boise, Idaho  August 3, 2002  8-12 noon   PAAW 125
Mike Moloney and Dan Hatten

• Introduction, overview and brief demos, showing a number of ideas (15 min)
• Use of sliders (scroll bars) with graphs
• Pendulum with damping (numerical integration example)
• Acoustic resonances: vary the frequency & see when boundary conditions are met
• Curve fitting using sliders to vary parameters
• Animations (press F9 and observe a moving graph)
• Travelling and standing waves
• Travelling pulse
• Monkey and hunter
• Numerical integration (RK2: evaluate at half-step and then execute a full step)
• Pendulum motion with and without damping
• Projectile motion with and without damping
• Complicated integration
• 'gravity-defying' pendulum
• two masses connected by a string thru a hole in a smooth table
• slider can control time step; visually observe numerical roundoff problems

• SESSION 1 (60 min)
• Suggestions:
• Create a graph (position vs. time) of the cop-and-speeder problem.
• Use formulas for position vs time. One series for cop, one for speeder
• Insert a slider to change the speeder's speed.
• Build a spreadsheet for projectile motion
• Do RK2 integration for trajectory, graph y vs. x.
• Insert a slider for the launch angle
• Animate the Cop-and-speeder problem (circular reference for incrementing the time)
• Animate projectile motion
• Use formulas for y and x trajectory, no air resistance.
• Increment the time via circular reference.
• Curve fitting using two sliders
• Use a central force and do numerical integration for circular motion.
• This requires x and y components of position, velocity and acceleration.
• y and x would be calculated as functions of t, but the plot would be y vs. x
• A graph of v vs. x will test whether you have it working properly
• 15 minute break
• More overview (15 min)
• Relaxation Methods for solutions of Laplace's equation
• Rectangular or linear array
• Cylindrical geometry
• Using Solver to deal with non-linear situations
• two radioactive decays
• fitting data to a Lorentzian
• Using Visual Basic to do calculations 'underneath' the spreadsheet
• Simple arithmetic example, using labels as buttons to to simple arithmetic
• Use VB to reset the time in an animation by means of a button
• Use VB to control the timing of a graph
• Use VB to obtain a graph of final pressure in a resonant tube vs. frequency
• Ray diagrams with sliders (each ray is a 'series')
• plot 3 rays
• plot lens/mirror position
• plot object and image(s)
• use sliders to move object or lenses or change focal lengths

• SESSION II (60 min)
• Suggestions:
• Use Solver with radioactive decay data to determine half-lives
• Use Solver to fit a functional form to data (lorentzian or whatever)
• Use a linear constant-potential array to compare the E field in the middle and at the end of the array
• (The electric field will be larger at the ends than in the middle)
• Take a one-lens spreadsheet and put in a 2nd lens with its image, including one slider
• Break (15 min)
• SESSION III (45 min)
• Suggestions:
• Build a one-lens spreadsheet from scratch, using two rays, and a slider to vary the object position
• Use Visual Basic to build a sheet which performs some simple tasks
• places some value in a cell when a label is clicked on
• drops the lowest two values in a list when clicked on
• doubles the value in a given cell, or takes the square root of some cell, etc.
• Do a simple Simpson-rule integration
• Discussion and Wrap-Up (10 min)