Mobile Sage Grapher for simulation of mathematics

Shaowei Sun, Kyung-Won Kim and Sang-Gun Lee
Sungkyunkwan University
Seoul, Korea

Over the last 20 years, our learning environment for mathematics has changed dramatically, and mathematical tools now play an important role in our classes. Sage, a popular piece of mathematical software which was released in 2005, has efficient features for adapting to the Internet environment and can cover most mathematical problems, such as algebra, combinatorics, numerical mathematics, calculus and linear algebra. Nowadays, there are more mobile devices than personal computers all over the world. Also, the most sophisticated smartphones have almost the same processing power as personal computers and can connect to the Internet easily. For example, we can connect from a mobile phone to any Sage server through the Internet. Over the years, we have developed mobile mathematics with smartphones as a tool for teaching the subject (Ko et al. 2009; Lee and Kim 2009; Lee et al. 2001).

As a visual expression of mathematics, graphs make it easy to visualize complex mathematical concepts. The Sage Grapher we have produced can be used as a supplementary pedagogical tool for various mathematics courses. In this paper, we introduce the mobile Sage Grapher we have developed and aim to show the mobile infrastructure of Sage and the mobile learning environment.

On the mobile Sage Grapher, a total of eight different versions have been developed, e.g. general function grapher, parametric function grapher and implicit function grapher. We will demonstrate the capabilities of these new and exciting mathematics tools. Manipulating and understanding these graphers can be an asset for all mathematics students, regardless of age or level.