[comp.edu] Use of Mathematica or Maple in education

kerm@garfield.ncat.edu (Cary Burnette) (06/16/91)

Hello:

I would like to get some information on computer based math packages;
such as Mathematica or Maple. I would like to know how people like
them in a college environment, specifically an Engineering environment.

I would like to really like to hear from people who have used both
packages and can make a comparison.

Thank you

Cary Burnette (kerm@garfield.ncat.edu)

PS. This is the only group that I thought was appropriate to ask this
question. Are there other groups that I may get a response to my
question?
-- 
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|                                               |                          |
| Cary E. Burnette         kerm@linus.ncat.edu  |   Dept. Of Elect. Eng.   |
|                                               |   McNair Hall            |

hb136@leah.albany.edu (Herb Brown) (06/16/91)

In article <1991Jun15.184943.5156@garfield.ncat.edu> kerm@garfield.ncat.edu (Cary Burnette) writes:
>Hello:
>
>I would like to get some information on computer based math packages;
>such as Mathematica or Maple. I would like to know how people like
>them in a college environment, specifically an Engineering environment.
>
>Thank you
>
>Cary Burnette (kerm@garfield.ncat.edu)
>
>-- 
>|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
>|                                               |                          |
>| Cary E. Burnette         kerm@linus.ncat.edu  |   Dept. Of Elect. Eng.   |
>|                                               |   McNair Hall            |


We installed Maple in each of the computers in our Computer Classroom. We use itto teach mathematics courses ranging from calculus for non-science majors to
upper level algebra and analysis. We have given about a dozen different courses
by nearly the same number of faculty/staff and for the most part we are quite
pleased with its behavior. Two or three of our faculty are also using Maple in
some of their research investigations and have involved some graduate students
in its use. Overall, we are satisfied with its performance on all the platforms
which range from Amigas, to SUN and DEC workstations.

Herb


-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Herb Brown  Math Dept  The Univ at Albany  Albany, NY 12222  (518) 442-4640
hibrown@leah.albany.edu or hibrown@cs.albany.edu or hibrown@bst.albany.edu
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Don_Porter@mts.rpi.edu (06/19/91)

In article <1991Jun15.184943.5156@garfield.ncat.edu> kerm@garfield.ncat.edu
(Cary Burnette) writes:
>Hello:
>
>I would like to get some information on computer based math packages;
>such as Mathematica or Maple. I would like to know how people like
>them in a college environment, specifically an Engineering environment.
>
>I would like to really like to hear from people who have used both
>packages and can make a comparison.
> ........

At RPI, we have been using various versions of Maple for several years. The
major
emphasis has been in Calculus instruction thus far. We are now in the process
of expanding this pilot program to cover the entire incoming freshman class
(~1000). The use of Maple is also spreading from Calculus to other math
courses, to physics and chemistry, and perhaps to engineering. We are generally
satisfied with Maple; we use version V on Sun and IBM RS6000 workstations.

There are a number of researchers on campus who do use Mathematica. The math
department selected Maple over Mathematica for a variety of reasons, including
correctness of results, performance, and price.