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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:

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.

Contact Us: lon-capa@lon-capa.org

Site maintained by Gerd Kortemeyer.
Supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF-ITR 0085921, NSF-CCLI-ASA 0243126, and NSF-CCLI 0717790. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Initial funding for CAPA has been provided by the Alfred. P. Sloan Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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