Many popular mathematical software products including Maple, Mathematica, Derive, Mathcad, Matlab, and some of the TI calculators produce incorrect graphs because they use complex arithmetic instead of "real" arithmetic. This article expounds on this issue, provides possible remedies for instructors to share with their students, and demonstrates…

Argues that while microcomputer and graphing calculators have evolved to a stage where they should be used routinely by mathematics students at all levels, there is sometimes potential to mislead students with computer generated graphs. Examples are included. (PK)

Demonstrates how to construct rational, exponential, and sinusoidal functions that appear normal on one scale but exhibit interesting hidden behavior when viewed on another scale. By exploring these examples, students learn the importance of scale, window size, and resolution effects in computer and calculator graphing. (MAZ)

Stresses using the features of graphing calculators to teach parametric equations much earlier in the curriculum than is presently done. Examples using parametric equations to teach slopes and lines in beginning algebra, inverse functions in advanced algebra, the wrapping function, and simulations of physical phenomena are presented. (MAZ)

Explores the concept of extraneous roots in radical equations using an alternative to traditional algebraic methods. Using calculator- or computer-based graphs, accounts for extraneous roots by examining the four possible cases of systems of equations that can produce the solution to the radical equation. (MDH)