GrafEq

Age Range: 15-Adult
Platform: Windows and Mac
Medium: Diskette
Cost: various platform configurations, individual and site licenses - click here:

Company: Pedagoguery Software
Email: peda@peda.com
Phone: [24-hour answering machine] (250) 638-8606
Fax: (250) 638-8606

Description:

GRAFEQ is an easy to use program for graphing equations encountered in the secondary pre-calculus mathematics curriculum, which includes:

linear functions,
polynomial functions,
conics,
trigonometric functions,
exponential functions,
relations involving absolute value, etc...

Equations may be entered in virtually any math format. To produce a certain ellipse, simply type in:

(x + 1)2 ÷ 42 +  (y - 2)2 ÷ 32 = 1

The program also features successive refinement subtractive plotting, which deletes regions of the plane that do not contain solutions, revealing only (single pixel) regions that do. This technique enables the graphing of implicit relations, in which no single variable can be readily isolated. Such relations cannot be graphed at all by the typical computer graphing utility or graphics calculator. Subtractive plotting also permits the plotting of singularities.

GRAFEQ has been designed with the mathematics educator and secondary student in mind: user-defined constants and ticks, zoom capability, file saving/loading and printout features are useful in the classroom setting. Typical uses of the program include topics such as:

linear slopes and intercepts,
polynomials,
transformations,
simultaneous systems, extrema, and intercepts

The teacher can introduce enrichment topics, such as:

rotation and shearing transformations,
equations that determine regions (x = |x|)

The student can explore topics of interest.

"I wonder what the graph of the polar equation = cos r/tan r looks like?"

"What happens to the graph if x is replaced with |x|?"

"How do a catenary and a parabola differ?"

For a tutorial, click here

GRAFEQ takes full advantage of the capabilities of a laser printer: the teacher can create printouts of exceptional quality for handouts or transparencies. Files can also be printed with color laser printers.

Note: School site licenses include, in addition to the programs and user's manual (on 8.5" x 11"), a set of sample lessons, student handouts, and suggested enrichment topics -- all on disk -- for easy customizing and subsequent printing.

For further information, click here

We hope you found what you needed on this page. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.



Howard J. Bender, Ph.D.
President
The Education Process Improvement Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 186
Riverdale, Maryland 20738
hjbender@epicent.com