Calc I Maplets Bring Calculus to Life

Maplesoft announces the release of Calc I Maplets, a revolutionary set of calculus learning activities using the maplets technology of Maple™ 8. Each learning activity is designed to reinforce understanding of a particular idea from calculus. Using a maplet interface to enter functions and parameters, the student can see how the calculus ideas of that lesson apply to the data he or she chose. The maplets give back results in the form of plots, mathematical expressions and numerical answers.

With Calc I Maplets, students can literally make calculus happen in front of them by pulling on its levers. Since the maplets do the symbolic computations in Maple, students can learn from any example they enter, not just canned examples built into the program. Calculus instructors can use Calc I Maplets for in-class demonstrations to enliven a lecture, lab activities or homework explorations. Unlike studying from a book or notes, the student gets instant feedback on his or her understanding.

In the Differentiation maplet, for example, the student can differentiate a function step-by-step by choosing differentiation rules from a palette of buttons. The student must decide which rules to apply and in which order, but the Maple engine does all the algebraic bookkeeping. This allows the student to practice the high-level steps of differentiation without becoming entangled in the algebra. At any time, the student can tell the maplet that he or she has understood a particular rule, and the maplet will apply that rule automatically from then on, when appropriate. The Calc I Maplets include step-by-step integration and limits tutors, as well. (These tutors serve as graphical interfaces to the Rule, Hint and ShowSteps procedures in the Student[Calculus1] package in Maple 8.)

In the ApproximateIntegration maplet, a student can learn the meaning of Riemann sums interactively. The student types in a function and the interval of integration. With slider bars and buttons, he or she sets the number of rectangles in the sum and the rule for generating the sum (left endpoint, right endpoint, maximum, etc.) The student can view a picture of the Riemann sum for the number of rectangles he or she chose, or an animation of the convergence as the partition becomes finer.This activity demonstrates other definite integral approximations, as well, including Simpson's rule, the Trapezoidal rule and Newton-Cotes. Other maplets in the set reinforce learning of tangent lines, Taylor series and much more. There are now 17 learning objects in the Calc I Maplets set, covering most major topics from a one-year calculus course.

Subscribers to Maplesoft's Extended Maintenance Plan (EMP) can download Calc I Maplets for free from the MaplePrimes™ website at http://mapleprimes.adeptscience.co.uk.

A free sample of the Calc I Maplets, including the Differentiation maplet described above, is available from the Maple Application Center under the Maplets category at http://mapleapps.adeptscience.co.uk.

Article: Calc I Maplets Bring Calculus to Life