Maple

http://www.maplesoft.com/products/maple/students/

Maple is a general non-free commercial computer algebra system. The Symbolic Computation Group first developed the software in 1980. It is now developed and sold by Waterloo Maple Inc. The latest version is Maple 15, a software tool for mathematics and sciences. Maple incorporates symbolic and numeric with a wide range of applications with over 4,000 mathematical functions. High school students in math and science are often asked to graph and solve difficult math problems. Maple provides a way for students to work out these problems.

Maple has created a user interface to accommodate every type of user. There are three different editions of maple available now, Maple 15 Professional, Academic, and Student Edition. To use Maple in the classroom I would suggest the student version. Maple has a portal which provides examples for the students to explore progressing into more difficult tasks. There are templates set up within the program to solve certain types of problems. Students can use these templates to work through difficult problems or check their final answers. Maple is incorporated with different tutors. For example, the integration tutor is used so students can practices different ways to integrate equations. Often calculus problems are long and tedious, a miscalculation can alter the final answer. Maple can identity these problems simply. Maple can also be used for students to create plots. In these plots they will be able to see trend lines and view 3D spaces. Another use is to be used to solve for large matrixes. Like most technology, Maple should not be use in place of teaching students mathematical skills to enforce them.

Teachers can use Maple to check students work, identify where there may have been mistakes in calculations, or as a resource in the classroom. Maple Cloud allows the teacher to share worksheets with students as well as allow students to share with other students. However, if Maple is not installed on the computer that the student is using the Maple files are not accessible. Help on how to use Maple is embedded within the program and addition references can be found on their website.I do believe that this program is not easy to use because it has its own computing language which should be learned to use its applications. The teacher can cover and explain how to use Maple in one to two class periods. Maple is very sensitive to cases and spaces; an extra space between numbers or command will result in an error message. I believe that the time which needs to be invested for students to learn how to use Maple will be well worth it. Its vast range of mathematical applications can be used in the classroom can be carried with the students in the future. I personally would include Maple in upper level math classes like calculus. Students often struggle with topics taught in these classes but can become clearer with an engaging technical approach.