Experiments In Undergraduate Mathematics: A Mathematica-based Approach - Hardcover

Kent, P; Ramsden, Philip; Wood, J

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860940277 ISBN 13: 9781860940279

Publisher: Imperial College Press, 1996

Synopsis

All students need to master a variety of mathematical tools and concepts at the start of their university career. This distinctive book helps students learn these by doing. The approach is interactive, using experiments, performed in the symbolic algebra package Mathematica, to impart the fundamentals of many of the topics students encounter. A clear exposition of the topic accompanies every experiment.The modular style of the book allows students to study each topic independently. The sheer power of computer algebra software lets students develop and test their own conjectures, obtaining quick and instructive results. The software modules accompanying this course includes many custom functions designed to facilitate learning and testing process.Students who have some familiarity with the material will find their understanding refreshed and deepened through this approach. The exposure to modern computer algebra software will also benefit students in their subsequent studies, research, and professional careers.This classroom-tested book covers Calculus; Complex Numbers; Vectors and Matrices; Functions and Graphs; Trigonometry; and Series. It should therefore also be of use to many secondary school and high school students.Requires: Mathematica 2.2 or later (to be purchased separately); notebook interface. Software modules for this book are available with the hardback edition and via the Internet, or directly from the authors. For further details of the book, including licensing information for certain UK higher education institutions, visit the book's WWW site at metric.ma.ic.ac.uk/

About this title

Review:

"This book is full of good ideas ... It gives us a rich mathematical environment in which to teach. The authors are to be congratulated." Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter, 1997 "The authors have clearly put considerable thought into the design of the material and the custom routines ... There is also scope for adding motivational examples and engineering case studies. The authors have done an excellent job and are to be congratulated." cti Engineering, 1997

Synopsis:

This book takes its place among a growing number about using a computer mathematics system as an environment for learning mathematics. These systems are already changing both the way mathematics is done and the way mathematics is used. We can be sure, then, that they will have a role in the way mathematics is learnt and taught. But they have been around for a relatively short time, and the pace of curricular change is slow; in any case, there is still a lively debate among educators about what the scale and nature of their role will be, or ought to be. The topics covered in this book roughly correspond to those traditionally studied in the A-level school syllabus in England and Wales, though recent and continuing curriculum changes mean that several topics are now studied for the first time at university. The first year undergraduate with mathematics "A" level should find this book useful for revision: for strengthening his or her understanding of topics first met at school. In North American terms, this book is suitable for freshman calculus.

About this edition

• Publisher: Imperial College Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1860940277
• ISBN 13: 9781860940279
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344