Re: Resources for high school student?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg24025] Re: Resources for high school student?
- From: "Kevin J. McCann" <Kevin.McCann at jhuapl.edu>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 03:07:38 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, USA
- References: <8ikc98$qf9@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I have used the latest TI calculators a bit, but am unimpressed with programming them. There is, however, a penalty for not going along with the crowd and that is that your son will likely need to learn both. There is a good book by Colin Williams and Nancy Blachman on the basics of Mathematica: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0132592010/o/qid=961431168/sr=2-2/102 -4472454-1371333 There are others on calculus with Mathematica. Advantages: Mathematica has a real programming language, and it is relatively easy to write your own stuff. The graphics are far superior to the calculator's and can be incorporated in a document (Mathematica's front end is really a fancy word processor) to produce a professional report. The downside is that there is a bit of a learning curve, but the students that I teach (college) can master about 90% of the essentials in less than a week. BTW, most of us (Roman Maeder and a few others excluded) never get to 100% of what Mathematica has to offer, but that is the beauty - always more power. If you live near Columbia MD, I could give you a demo. Kevin Craig H. Anderson <craigha at home.com> wrote in message news:8ikc98$qf9 at smc.vnet.net... > > Greetings, > My son will be in 10th grade this fall. He will be > taking physics and trig/geometry. He is interested > in astrophysics. We are considering getting > Mathematica student edition. The teachers we > have talked to make use of TI calculators, but > not Mathematica. What resources can you > recommend in making the decision to get > Mathematica, and in helping my son with > Mathematica skills if we purchase it? > > Thanks > >