S.K.Kumar
MATHEMATICA is a computational software program used in many scientific, engineering, mathematical and computing fields, based on symbolic mathematics. It was conceived by Stephen Wolfram and is developed by Wolfram Research of Champaign, Illinois.Mathematica provides an unprecedented framework for the complete spectrum of math and science education. Traditional math education software has tended to be built using closed systems with a bare minimum of computation capabilities. But MATHEMATICA has immensely powerful computational engine and unique interface creation technology. MATHEMATICA redefines what is possible, and makes it realistic even for individual students and educators to create rich open-ended educational content. It is world’s leading mathematical computation system.
MATHEMATICA has been used to make many important discoveries in discrete mathematics over the past two decades. Its integration of highly efficient and often original algorithms together with its high-level symbolic language has made it a unique environment for the exploration, development, and application of discrete mathematics. It has support for traditional mathematical notation, 2D and 3D graphics and animation, immediate access to real-world data, and unique ability to integrate interactive elements into document.
MATHEMATICA has become the computer algebra system of choice for many universities. . It is transforming K-12 math and science education with innovation after innovation. Wolfram Research has launched the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, which contains thousands of compelling and highly graphical interactive demonstrations of math and science. This Project gives today’s students a new level of hands-on experience with math and science concepts. C&M program at the University of Illinois pioneered by Professor Jerry Uhl, Horacio Porta (Illinois) and Bill Davis (Ohio State).It is a technology-based mathematics curriculum. They developed materials for Calculus I, II, and III, Differential Equations, Applied Linear Algebra, and Probability and Statistics which used the computer program MATHEMATCA. These courses were later used in the Net Math program.
The MATHEMATICA give an edge to a teacher by, providing environment to easily develop dynamic lesson plans and tests, with text, calculations, and graphics all in one notebook. It automatically and instantly creating interactive visualizations, accesses thousands of examples and tutorials found in the Wolfram Mathematica Documentation Center. Mathematica is a self-contained environment where you can do all the things you need to do. The students author can write, calculate, draw graphics and can do it all in one environment.
The features in MATHEMATICA which are of great help for math education are;Multimedia documents with text, math, animations, sound, links, etc., extensive support for interactive exploration and simulation, user interface suitable for all educational levels, immediate support for interactive geometry, huge library of pre-built interactive content, built-in environment for interactive slide show presentations , immediate ability to create web pages, PDF documents, Flash, etc.
Other Mathematics Software are; Minitab, Matlab, Tora.Minitab is a high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming. MATLAB analyze data, develop algorithms, and create models and applications. The language, tools, and built-in math functions enable to explore multiple approaches and reach a solution faster than with spreadsheets or traditional programming languages, such as C/C++ or Java.
MATLAB can be used for a range of applications, including signal processing and communications, image and video processing, control systems, test and measurement, computational finance, and computational biology… Minitab is statistical analysis software. It can be used for learning about statistics as well as statistical research. Statistical analysis computer applications have the advantage of being accurate, reliable, and generally faster than computing statistics and drawing graphs by hand. Minitab is relatively easy to use once you know a few fundamentals.
Tora is a database toolset that supports accessing most of the common database platforms in use, including Oracle, MySQL, and Postgres. The software offers: browsing databases and tables, editing tables and views, support for multiple connections etc.
These other tools on the surface appear equivalent to Mathematica, but I have yet to find anything that compares to MATHEMATICA’s breadth, depth, elegance, and consistency.
The author is Lecturer J&K Institute of Mathematical Sciences
(This article is based on my experiences of JKIMS workshop as member of organizing committee and participant see box)
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