Some folks have claimed calculators have nearly ruined grade school and high school math education. Won the use of computers in C&M ruin math education completely?
Misuse of technology is a big problem in many mathematics classes – often with disastrous results. The problem is that the course texts were not written with technology in mind. Instead technology is injected as a layer in a text whose orginal edition is likely to have been written years ago – before calculators and computers were on the scene. The C&M courses are the first math courses to be written from the start with the computer in mind. The computer is woven throughout the courses and is often used to introduce new ideas visually so that students can play and experiment with new idea before dealing with the new terminology. The idea is understanding – not button pressing. As Richard Hamming once put it: “The goal of computing is insight, not numbers.” Back to Top Q: How does the mathematical content of C&M courses measure up against the mathematical content of standard courses? A: C&M courses drop some of the parts of the standard courses that a former President of the American Ma
