USING SPREADSHEET FUNCTIONS TO COMPUTE ARITHMETIC GRADIENTS

Computerized spreadsheets are quite useful in engineering economy. However, (he leading spreadsheet packages do not include functions for arithmetic gradients, although add-in packages may contain such functions. Spreadsheet functions which do not exist can be adapted to calculations of arithmetic gradients, as shown in this technical note. This technical note also briefly summarizes the financial functions available in three leading packages: Excel^tm, Lotus^tm, and Quattro Pro^tm.