What is Calculus&Mathematica

Calculus&Mathematica is a revolutionary way of approaching teaching calculus. It presents a complete rethinking of:

• The mathematics of calculus
• Calculus as a first course in scientific measurement
• Mathematics as an empirical science
• How to present calculus ideas visually
• What students do in calculus
• What motivates students to do calculus
• How to motivate students to write about calculus
• How technology should be used in mathematics education

Traditional Mathematics courses emphasize the learning of mathematics through rote work, memorization, and mastery of hand methods of solving problems. Although this can result in creating a good human calculator, it is not conducive to in-depth and substantive understanding of mathematical concepts.

Calculus&Mathematica does away with this traditional approach. Since students use Mathematica software to help them step through the boring routines of traditional mathematical learning, they are free to achieve a better conceptual understanding of the material while still gaining a good knowledge of the methods of problem-solving. The end result is a student who really understands the material he or she is working on.

Many prospective students are concerned that if they take C&M classes, they will not actually learn how to do any of the math, since "The computer does all the work for you." Fortunately, this is simply not true. Students cannot just present a problem to Mathematica and have the computer solve it from beginning to end. They must understand the problem well enough to be able to give Mathematica the right instructions to solve it. In cases where Mathematica has a higer-level function that is capable of doing all the work (such as Mathematica's Integrate command), students learn to break it apart and see how the computer does the work on a lower level. Mathematica is not a magic wand that can be waved at a math problem; it is a tool that requires as much thought and care to use effectively as pencil, paper, and calculator.

Where we are coming from

A guide to the studies done on the Mathematica-based courses

Our History

The Calculus&Mathematica program was started by Jerry Uhl and Horacio Porta and saw it's first students in 1989. The first version of Mathematica ran on Mac SEs with Courseware written by Jerry and Horacio. Math 130 (Calculus II) was offered, followed shortly by Math 120 (Calculus I) and Math 242 (Calculus III), at which point Bill Davis joined the authoring team. They then went on to write Courseware for Math 285 (Differential Equations), Math 315 (Linear Algebra), and Math 361 (Probability and Statistics). A recent addition was BioCalc, a version of Calculus I that is intended specifically for life science majors.