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Graphing Calculators

(TI, HP, Casio, ...)

Although now rare in college and professional settings, graphing calculators are still common in high-school math education. But as full-scale computers become cheaper, smaller and ever more ubiquitous, the future of standalone calculators is increasingly unclear.

As the world's broadest and deepest mathematical system, Mathematica's computational capabilities vastly exceed anything that can be achieved with a calculator—and provide a completely different level of educational possibilities.

While calculators are easy to use for simple operations, they rapidly become unwieldy when many steps are required. Mathematica, on the other hand, is immediately able to offer a fully scalable interface with dramatically more compelling graphics and interactivity, as well as greater systematic learnability.

With its unique document-centered interface and full support for symbolic mathematical notation, Mathematica provides a complete environment for educational computing, seamlessly combining math, visualization, interactivity, programming and text. With support for the latest interface and presentation systems, together with immediate access to thousands of student-modifiable interactive educational demonstrations, Mathematica redefines the role of calculation in the classroom.

Graphing Calculator Features in Mathematica:

Support for all standard mathematical functions »
Full computer algbera capabilities »
Support for matrices and linear algebra »
Broad statistics capabilities »
2D and 3D graphing and data plotting »
Robust interface suitable for all levels of students
Integrated with hundreds of textbooks
Broadly adopted by colleges, schools, districts, etc.
Global network of teachers and mentors
Student pricing makes Mathematica comparable in cost to a calculator

Key Advantages of Mathematica Compared to Graphing Calculators:

Vastly more computational capabilities than any calculator »
Easy-to-read typeset input and output »
Document-centered interface records calculation steps for review, reuse or sharing »
Full easy-to-learn modern programming language »
Thousands of classroom demonstrations immediately available »
Adaptive sampling in 2D and 3D plots for greater fidelity »
State-of-the-art dynamic and animated graphics
Full support for note- and waveform-based sound »
High-quality arbitrary-precision numerical computation »
Full coverage of calculus, equation solving, etc. »
Efficient scalable computation allowing use of real-world examples
Immediate import of external data from files, devices and the web »
Built-in access to extensive curated real-world datasets »
Fully integrated document capabilities for student work, courseware, etc. »
Publication-quality output
Built-in slide show presentation mode »
Support for peripherals such as gamepads, microphones, projectors, etc. »
Runs on powerful PC hardware: faster, more memory, full keyboards, screens, etc.
Built-in help system with thousands of examples »
Well-developed site-licensing policies
Mathematica skills relevant throughout education and career
Integration with Wolfram MathWorld and other educational resource sites

Interoperability with Graphing Calculators:

Calculator key sequences translate to easy-to-read sequences of functions
Immediate import and export to all standard formats »
Immediate compatibility with computer-based accessibility tools
Support for modern ultra-mobile and tablet PCs

Interesting Tidbits:

Mathematica is used to test all major brands of calculators
Studies have shown high effectiveness of Mathematica in the classroom
Many Intel Science Talent winners (as well as Nobel prizewinners) use Mathematica
Wolfram Research has been consistently involved in education for two decades
The Wolfram Integrator has computed nearly a billion integrals
Mathematica has been ported to the OLPC "$100 laptop"
Wolfram Research works with producers of next-generation computer hardware