Analysis of Discrete Models Using an Electronic Spreadsheet—A Survey of Examples

This paper surveys examples in which questions are answered by developing recurrence relations that model certain situations and then exploring those recurrence relations using an electronic spreadsheet. The goals of this approach are (1) to develop an understanding of and a facility for using recurrence relations as a modeling tool to motivate the need to derive analytical methods for solving recurrence relations, (2) to increase awareness of the spreadsheet as a problem solving tool, (3) to validate intermediate steps in analytical solutions using the spreadsheet, and (4) to use the spreadsheet’s computational and graphics capabilities to explore and analyze questions that do not lend themselves to an easy analytical solution. The examples described here have been used in discrete mathematics courses and professional development courses for licensed teachers.