How can I do some iterative calculus in Numbers?

Question

i would like to know if i can do some iterative calculus in numbers, may someone help me?

Answer 1

Excel allows circular references if you limit the number of iterations in Excel/Preferences/Calculation. Numbers does not have that preference or the ability to do iterations.  However, you can do it easily with Applescript.  A simple script that repeatedly takes the value from one cell and places it into another is all that is required. The Numbers table would be designed to have an input cell for the "seed" value, the formulasand a cell for the result based on that input.  No circular references. You might also have a cell to specify the number of iterations. The script would do the iterating by repeatedly taking the result and placing it in the input cell.
Here is a simple example. First image is before running the script.  Note that one iteration has already been done by the table itself:
Here is the script. Note the delay. It may not be required but is there to ensure the calculations i nthe table complete. I set it to 1/2 second so you can see it running (assuming you try this out).
tell application "Numbers" to tell document 1 to tell sheet 1 to tell table 1
          set value of cell "B5" to 1 -- this is the counter for iterations. One iteration is already complete
          repeat while value of cell "B5" < value of cell "B4" -- B4 has the number of iterations
                    set value of cell "B2" to value of cell "B3"
                    set value of cell "b5" to (value of cell "B5") + 1
                    delay 0.5
          end repeat
end tell
Here is the result: