I want to plot a simple function such as y = (x * x) +x + 1 on the screen and then hopefully to the printer using a range of values for x and an increment of my choosing.
As @Regina told you, ‘Math’ cannot be used this way. Are you actually only interested to get the image in any way, or do you want to use data contained in a spreadsheet inside the Calc document?
No. LibreOffice Math is a tool for typesetting formulas. You can get such plot in Calc.
But I would not use LibreOffice directly. Use Geogebra to make the plot and from there export to png or svg, which you then insert in LibreOffice.
@Lupp:Ask178094.ggb.ods. You need to remove .ods 
@Regina: Would you be so kind to supply a well shaped example of the kind as a Geogebra file to satisfy my curiosity.
(I don’t feel informed well enough concerning software nowadays preferred in teaching mathematics in Austria and Germany. … and everywhere? Can this software also be really useful beyond teaching? Can any application of Geogebra be linked the OLE way? I was surprised by your suggestion to use external software not connecting to internal data in Calc.)
https://www.geogebra.org. Use GeoGebra 5, it is better for image generating. You write f(x)=(xx)+x+1 into the input line and get the plot immediately. You can export as picture; useful formats are png and svg. For making tutorials or exercises, I found it must faster and having nicer plots, than using Calc and Draw. Calc cannot constrain the axes to same scaling and Calc does not allow pi as unit. I cannot add .ggb file, it is not allowed.
I have not tried OLE, but I think it is not possible. I don’t know, how much GeoGebra goes beyond teaching, but plotting y=(xx)+x+1 looks like teaching to me.
Quoting @Regina: “I cannot add .ggb”
Simply append a fake extension .ods.
Wenn I was still in office as a teacher I used different software for dynamic geometry and for analysis. Namely I preferred Dynageo and Derive (since killed by TI). None of both applications were much used in “everyday production” outside school, but both didn’t introduce concepts definitely restricted to usage in school education. (Dynageo partly started to do so with ongoing development. I didn’t like the “only for school” idea. Once slide rulers were the same in school and outside and pocket calculators still are. That was my paradigm.)
During my final years in office there started something I tended to see as a Geogebra-hype. I tried it for dynamic geometry and was discontented. I couldn’t find much useful concerning Algebra / Analysis - and nothing of a useful tool for outside school insofar.
That’s 10 years ago now, and I might give Geogebra another try - for principles, not for actual usage.
Thanks for thr example!