Further Web Resources

Check out "National Curve Bank" for a nifty animation of volumes of revolution

Wolfram Alpha

The easiest way to explain the power of the Wolfram Alpha site, I think, is to show you some examples:

Derivatives

Integrals

Graphs

The beauty of the Wolfram Alpha engine is that it's very forgiving in terms of syntax. In fact, the less you type into the search box, the more information it gives you. For example, to graph an equation, you just need to type the equation into the search box and it will automatically be plotted for you. To start using Wolfram Alpha, I recommend using one of the above links and then modifying the text in the Search Box to get the expression/equation you are interested in.

Two dangers to be aware of:

Note: you can also branch out and ask questions like: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

For Other Classes

Mech

Here are some links to pages showing how to find the arclength of a parabola:

Civil

Here's a quick explanation of how to rewrite a nasty integral from your Statics class into something you can integrate using methods from Math 187.

Adobe Reader logo Many course materials are available in the Adobe Acrobat PDF file format. To read and print PDF files, you will need to install the free Acrobat reader.