Maths Software

Maths Software covers a broad array of different packages and areas. Products range from algebraic- or computational geometry to statistical programs, with everything in between. There are packages designed to produce mathematical graphs, or to generate 3D models of fractals. Educational software also represents a large section of the market and will be the first focus of this article.

Educational packages can give students the extra support and skills they need to apply to the classroom environment. Interactive teaching programs immerse the student in the topic whilst remaining engaging and fun through the use of mathematical puzzle games or interactive video clips. Although possibly most widely used in the primary education market, there are also packages designed for high-school pupils and college students. The developers of these programs claim they are an effective alternative to private tuition and have the benefit of allowing the student to work at their own pace, repeating steps until they fully understand the concept.

Of course, in the Internet age there are also online alternatives to hiring a private tutor or purchasing software packages. With tight schedules, classroom maths teachers are unable to devote large amounts of time to helping individual pupils with problems they may encounter. Online maths tutoring sites offer multiple approaches to problems, so that students can select the approach that works for them. Similarly, several working examples can be provided online, which aids comprehension and retention of the technique. Many educational sites as well as software packages offer a preliminary assessment of the pupil’s skill level, meaning that tuition can be tailored to their specific requirements.

Statistical software also accounts for a significant portion of the maths software market. These packages enable users to elicit the results of data analysis through statistical procedures and significance testing. These programs allow for straightforward analysis without the need to know specific statistical equations and procedures. These programs often also provide data management facilities.

One example of a statistical program is SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). This has become the standard used package for most social researchers as well as health and governmental researchers. SPSS datasets consist of a two-dimensional table structure, with rows representing individual cases and columns being measurements. All processing of the data is consecutive, operating on a case by case basis. The package can produce descriptive statistics (cross tabulations, frequencies, etc), bivariate statistics (means, t-tests, ANOVA, etc), and predictions such as linear regression or cluster analysis.

Statistical software of this kind can be daunting for novice users but thankfully there are a number of guides (online and in print) as well as recent forum developments, where users can help one another and share tips. The SPSS program also allows for add-on modules, meaning any specific data analyses can be conducted through the addition of specialist modules. The main pitfall of this package is its high price. The latest release of the package (version 16.0) costs $1,600 and is therefore probably restricted exclusively to professional use. There are a limited number of open source/free packages available online such as OpenStat (statpages.org/miller/openstat) or Statist (wald.intevation.org). However, these packages offer very limited functionality and are likely to only be useful for very small-scale projects, with limited data analysis requirements.