Imaginative Deployment of Computer Algebra in the Undergraduate Mathematics Curriculum

Much of the author’s recent experience is attempting to teach Mathematics primarily to undergraduate students following degree programmes in Electronics or Audio Technology. Increasingly, it is found that although such students may be able to perform mechanistic steps such as obtaining a simple derivative, or evaluating a straightforward definite integral, they have little idea as to what these quantities mean. Very few (if any?) would know that these results are connected to a limiting process. Unless the student’s understanding of basic calculus is strengthened, they have little chance of subsequently dealing with the solution of differential equations or the construction of Fourier series. This paper shows how imaginative deployment of computer algebra (DERIVE) can substantially assist the understanding of calculus and its applications in the aforementioned areas. In particular, the paper will demonstrate the advantages of using computer algebra as an on-line teaching aid in the classroom compared with using traditional methods of teaching topics such as solving differential equations.