ABSTRACT
The ever-increasing power and ease of access of computer technology continues to have a significant impact on the learning, teaching and assessment of mathematics throughout higher education establishments worldwide. In this chapter we look particularly at the impact of computer algebra systems, by which we mean software systems that can perform symbolic as well as numerical manipulations and which include graphical display capabilities. Examples include Mathematica, Maple, Macsyma and DERIVE, and some of these systems are available not only on PCs but also on hand-held ‘super calculators’ such as theTI-92 plus and theTI-89. In this chapter, DERIVE is used to illustrate the issues raised, but these issues are generic in nature and the ‘translation’ to other systems is straightforward.
