KSpread can be used to solve algebraic expressions such as
x + x^2 = 4
or
For what value of x does x + x squared
equal 4 ?
For this example you could enter
=A2+A2*A2
into A1 then either try different values in A2 until the result in A1 is as
close as you wish to
4
or, preferably, use KSpread's
feature which automatically adjusts the
value in one cell to try to make the value in another cell as close as
possible to a target value.
It is invoked by selecting
from
the
menu. This brings up a dialog box in which you
should enter the reference of the target value cell (
A1
in this case) into the
Set cell:
box, the target value
itself (
4
) into the
To value:
box
and the reference of the cell that is to be changed
(
A2
) into the
By changing cell:
box. Note that you need to have entered some initial value into the cell that
is to be changed before starting
.
Pressing the
Start
button will start the
calculation. When it finishes and if it has found a solution press the
OK
button to accept the result or
Cancel
to keep the original value.
