Auteur principal			Co-auteurs(s)
Nom :	Dr. John Putz		Nom :
Courriel :	putz@alma.edu		Courriel :
Institution ou compagnie:	Alma College		Nom :
Département:	Mathematics and Computer Science		Courriel :
Ville :	Alma		Nom :
État/Province :	MI		Courriel :
Pays :	USA		Nom :
Type de présentation:	Conférence :  50 minutes.		Courriel :
Conférence et numéro :	ACDCA ,    Numéro : A28		Horaire :   Local :	samedi, 14h00   1340
Site Internet :
Titre de la communication :	Creating Visualizations using Maple
Résumé de la communication :
Many of the ideas that we teach in mathematics can be moored to a changing image. This is particularly true in calculus: rectangles under a curve become thinner and more region-filling as their number increases; a point travels along a curve, its velocity and acceleration vectors changing as it moves; the slope of the tangent line to a surface varies as a direction vector swings around a point on the surface; a horizontal plane descends through a surface, cutting it in varying level curves. These are images that we have in our mind’s eye, and that we try to convey to our students. When we are successful, we give them something concrete to associate with a concept. Computer animation is a very effective means to accomplish this, and Maple has that capability. I will show several ways to make animations using Maple, assuming that the audience has at least casual familiarity with a computer algebra system. In particular, I will show how to use the ANIMATE, ANIMATE3D, and SEQ commands as well as FOR loops to accomplish this, the choice of method depending on the complexity of the frames. These will be coupled with the DISPLAY command and its various options. Every example will be an animation that can be used directly as a classroom demonstration to help students visualize a concept.