Computer Based Mathematics and Internet Resources

General Repositories

• A good respository for information about computer based learning activities and software is located at Swarthmore, forum.swarthmore.edu.
  
  
• The Math Archive at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville contains a large number of different computer programs for different subjects. It is worth having at look at it: archives.math.utk.edu/software.html
  
  
• Ask Dr. Math is a nice site where students can ask questions and review answers to previous questions on a wide variety of topics.
  
  

Computer Programs

• The main geometry program that we use is called Geometer's Sketchpad. GSP allows you to do basic geometry and measuring in the plane. It is available from Key Curriculum Press. The web site is www.keypress.com/product_info/sketchpad3.html It runs on Macintosh and Windows computers.
  
  
• Cabri Geometry II is another geometry program witha few more built in features and the capabilities of working with projective and hyperbolic geometries. Information for Cabri is available from Texas Instruments and can be viewed at www.ti.com/calc/docs/cabri. It runs on Macintosh and Windows machines.
  
  
• Cinderella Cafe is a Java-based geometry program that is very comprehensive and something that we may move to in the future. Demonstrations that you create in Cinderella can be used by students with a web browser. Information is available at www.cinderella.de.
  
  
• Geomview is a 3-D visualization program from the Geometry Center. The basic distribution is free and runs on most Unix based computers. Information about Geomview can be had at www.geom.umn.edu/software/geomview/docs/
  
  
• Future Graph is a fancy scientific calculator, graphing package, and electronic spreadsheet program available at www.futuregraph.com. It runs on Macintosh and Windows machines and is geared towards pre-college students and teachers. It costs about 50 dollars.
  
  
• The standard for general computer algebra systems is Mathematica Made by Wolfram Research (www.wolfram.com), it is a very powerful, rather expensive, and extremely comprehensive computer system for doing all kinds of mathematics. It is available on all platforms.
  
  
• A Look at Mathematica is Wolfram Research's introduction to Mathematics. It shows some of the capabilities of this program.
  
  
• Maple is another computer based system for doing mathematics from Waterloo Maple. It is a little less polished (but also less expensive) than Mathematica but is still very comprehensive. It is available at www.maplesoft.com
  
  

Specific Course Resources

• Algebra Online is a nice web site for K-12 algebra. Has some online activity features (factoring, inequality solving, etc).
  
  
• Calculus on the Web is a very large site containing questions concerning Pre-calculus and calculus. The students answer questions step-by-step and the computer checks the answers. Looks nice.
  
  
• Elements Online. This is a great site which appears to be the complete set of Euclid's Elements online with Java applets to demonstrate certain constructions. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Calculus and Mathematica is one of the main calculus reform projects in the world. While it is primarily devoted to college level courses, the web site may give some idea as to what is possible.