Although the mathematics community has long accepted the concept of limit as the foundation of modern Calculus, the concept of limit itself has been marginalized in undergraduate Calculus education. In this paper, I analyze the strategy of conceptual conflict to teach the concept of limit with the aid of an online tool--Desmos graphing calculator.…

Derivation of the law of radioactive decay is considered without prior knowledge of calculus or the exponential series. Calculus notation and exponential functions are used because ultimately they cannot be avoided, but they are introduced in a simple way and explained as needed. (Contains 10 figures, 1 box, and 1 table.)

Quantitative literacy has been recognized as an important skill in the higher education and workforce communities, focusing on problem solving, reasoning, and real-world application. As a result, there is a need by various stakeholders in higher education and workforce communities to evaluate whether college students receive sufficient training on…

Describes the use of programmable calculators in a linear algebra course at the University of Kansas. Reports that these calculators can exploit the opportunities of personal computing and allow students to concentrate on how to apply new mathematical principles to real-world applications. (JRH)

Graphing calculator use is often thought of in terms of pre-calculus or continuous topics in mathematics. This paper contains examples and activities that demonstrate useful, interesting, and easy ways to use a graphing calculator with discrete topics. Examples are given for each of the following topics: functions, mathematical induction and…

Documents the experiences of 25 first-year university students with regard to the kinds of tasks calculus instructors should design in order to engage students in mathematical practices that often require the use of a graphing calculator. (MM)

Since the 1999 fall semester, the TI-92 Plus or the TI-89 has been a compulsory purchase for new students entering one engineering school in Montreal, Canada (almost 1000 enrolments a year). The purpose of this paper is to share impressions of a campus-wide experience and to communicate solutions adopted to help students and faculty members in the…

A previously developed program for the HP-41C programmable calculator is extended to handle models of differential and difference equations with multiple eigenvalues. How to obtain difference equation solutions via the Z transform is described. (MNS)

Provides instructions for and examples of balancing chemical equations using a desktop calculator. (JN)

This article on mathematics in the curriculum describes how students learn the characteristics of conic section equations by entering them into graphing calculators to make happy faces in a high school or college algebra class. A sample worksheet page is included. (Author/LRW)

Presented is a program written for an HP-25 programmable calculator. It will aid in the effective impedance of a series-parallel network containing both reactive and resistive elements. (MNS)

Describes a program written for a programmable pocket calculator that computes the frequency response of linear systems. (Author)

The advent of powerful Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) continues to dramatically affect curricula, pedagogy, and epistemology in secondary and college algebra classrooms. However, epistemological and pedagogical research regarding the role and effectiveness of CAS in the learning of algebra lags behind. This paper investigates concerns regarding…

A teacher shares his successful experience in helping students understand the relationship between exponents and logarithms in high school and college courses. He presents the procedure that he used for teaching using a graphing calculator that shows previous calculations made.

Provides a simple routine which allows first-year physics students to use programmable calculators to solve otherwise complex electrostatic problems. These problems involve finding electrostatic potential and electric field on the axis of a uniformly charged ring. Modest programing skills are required of students. (DH)