Computer Algebra System

LON-CAPA works with the MAXIMA CAS and the R project systems.

• This allows for problems that check student answers for mathematical properties rather than simply for agreement with a system-provided answer. For example, the problem depicted on this page has infinitely many correct answers.
• Answer can be checked for exact algebraic equivalence, for example, sqrt(2) is different from 1.41421356..., which a numerical calculation would not reliably reveal.
• R can be used to randomly generate distributions with desired properties.

Some LON-CAPA code examples:

• Formularesponse with Maxima
• Mathresponse with Maxima
• Numerical problem using R

We have combined this with the DragMath formula editor.

If you are interested in the implementation, please find these notes on how to use MAXIMA as a server.

You may also be interested in the STACK project , which is another homework system using MAXIMA.