News Card 8

Top 10 Open Source Tools for learning and teaching Math

This article talks about open source softwares that can be used by students and teachers to study or teach math. What makes the following softwares great is that they are open source or free. Teaching math can be frustrating sometimes but with the help of software tools teaching math can be a lot easier.


SAGE – SAGE can be used for studying a wide variety of mathematics, including algebra, calculus, number theory, graph theory and more. It is used as an open source alternative to many commercial mathematics programs, including Magma, Maple, Mathematica and MATLAB.

Maxima – This popular computer algebra system puts an emphasis on symbolic computation. It can be used for advanced algebraic calculations and will plot functions and data in both two and three dimensions.

Octave – Octave is a high-level program that performs numerical computations. It is often used in conjunction with MATLAB. Octave is written in C++ and features its own interpreter that translates the Octave language.

Scilab – This advanced numerical computation package hails from France. Similar to MATLAB, this free program is a high-level programming language that can make large computations with just a few lines of code.

GAP – GAP is short for Groups, Algorithms, Programming. An algebraic computation system, its main focus is on computational group theory. GAP includes its own programming language, as well as large data libraries of algebraic objects.

OpenMath – This open source markup language is quickly becoming a standard for representing mathematical objects with their semantics. By using OpenMath, mathematical information can be easily stored, published and passed between computer programs.

OMDoc – Short for Open Mathematical Documents, OMDoc is a semantic markup language used for mathematic documents. OMDoc encompasses the entire range of written mathematic documents, unlike the aforementioned OpenMath.

Axiom – This general-purpose computer algebra system has been in development since 1971. Formerly known as Scratchpad, it was originally developed by IBM and has slowly evolved into a popular open source tool.

Macaulay 2 – This computer algebra system has a specific focus on polynomial computations. It was designed to support research in geometry and commutative algebra.

YACAS – YACAS, also known as Yet Another Computer Algebra System, is a general-purpose program for symbolic manipulation of mathematical computations. The purpose of this program is to make computer calculations easy for all.

Name: Mark Joseph Cabacang
ID: 551-9517

My WebQuest topic would be how to create a simple website using HTML.

News Card 7

Game Maker

http://gamemakerblog.com/2009/05/30/game-maker-in-schools/

Game maker is a computer software that is used to develop games. Game maker makes it easy for anyone to create games because of it's simple user interface and easy to understand tools, students don't even have to learn how to program to create a simple game. This software is a great introduction to the gaming industry which is a booming industry.

Game maker is currently being taught in many schools and children as young as 11-12 are learning how to use this software. I myself have used this software and is currently teaching my students how to create games with it, i find that my students love learning how to make games because most of them play computer games it is easy to capture there attention.

Mark Joseph Cabacang
ID: 551-9517

News Card 6

News Card 6

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20646933

The technology giant IBM said that it has developed a chip that can transfer data via light pulses instead of using electrical signals. This means data transfer can be transferred a lot faster compared to using electrical signals. This chip and technology does not only help with faster data transfer but it is also able to transfer bigger data compared to the other method.

So what does this mean for the public? It simply means faster internet speeds and higher data transfer rates.

Mark Joseph Bautista Cabacang

ID:551-9517