On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 3:39 PM, William Stein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Stephen Glasby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:29 AM > Subject: Re: Details for PNW-MAA 2009 meeting > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Dear William, > > Sorry for the delayed reply. I think Rob Beezer's advice on giving > simple applications on common u.g. courses (statistics, calculus, > linear algebra, > discrete mathematics, differential equations etc) is a good idea. Some > advice on installation is necessary and desirable. I found installing a linux > version very easy, but there may be difficulties with other platforms. > The comment by *kcrisman* about "talking some about what a sysadmin" > seemed like it might not be a good idea, but I am sure he knows more sage > than me and I guess I am missing some subtleties. > > You clearly have a lot of good material on your web site. The file > tut.pdf is helpful. > Joyner's sage version of Granville's book has good features. I know > some will find > it old fashioned with log tables, but there is useful stuff there. The > example on > Taylor series with the slide bar drawing higher order approximations > will impress. > I looked at > http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wdj/teaching/DiffyQ/ > but the links seemed not to work.
Oops! Fixed now. Thanks. I am using this material this semester. In fact, a Sage assignement is due in my classes this Friday. > > How would you run the minicourse? Do you need Sage installed on each > lab computer? > I do not know whether the lab computers have enough memory for that. > Can one do a lot using some of the nice examples that are on web pages? > > In summary, I would go for the broad introduction to the advantages of Sage. > Once people come on board, they will hopefully develop code and contribute to > the project. I would like a free software counterbalance to > Mathematica. I think it > is best if each proponent showcases "their system" and avoids comparisons. > > I am very excited to learn more about Sage. You and your colleagues > have made great > progress! > > Best wishes, > Stephen > > P.S. By the way I got the error: > www.sagenb.org uses an invalid security certificate. > The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed. > So I have not checked out www.sagenb.org > --- >>>> William Stein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/20/08 8:47 PM >>> > Dear Stephen, > > Before responding with my title/abstract, I asked some other people > in the Sage community what they thought I should talk about, and got > a couple of good replies, all of which I've included below. If you have a > moment, could you glance at this, and see if what is generally suggested > below would be appropriate (in your opinion) for an MAA minicourse? > > Thanks! > > William > > Forwarded conversation > Subject: Details for PNW-MAA 2009 meeting > ------------------------ > > From: *Stephen Glasby* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 10:40 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Dear William, > > I thought I should get back to you regarding the PNW-MAA meeting > 2009.04.03-04. Your minicourse is now scheduled for Fri 2:30-5:30. > What title would you like for the minicourse? The theme of the > conference is "integrating computer software into the undergraduate > curriculum." To help us advertise your minicourse could you send > a short abstract describing the content and level of the minicourse? > > Our committee has decided to run three minicourses simultaneously > from 2:30 to 5:30 on Friday. I was hoping to attend at least two. > Hopefully most attendees want to attend one. A web page > http://www.cwu.edu/PNWMAA09 will be up soonish. > > Attached is a map of the Ellensburg campus of CWU. If you drive, you > can park all day south of 5th Avenue (e.g. at our house). On campus > parking lots require a $3 parking ticket. > > Our house is 609 E 3rd Ave (NW corner of Walnut and 3rd Ave), and > our phone number is 509 933 1516. Google maps are good. The university > road was called 8th Avenue (now University way). The old name may > be on the map. > > Best wishes, > Stephen Glasby > > c.c. Dan Curtis, Chair Local Organizing Committee > > > ---------- > From: *William Stein* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 11:23 PM > To: [email protected] > > > Hi Guys, > > Any ideas what I should do at this (see below)? > -- > William Stein > Associate Professor of Mathematics > University of Washington > http://wstein.org > > ---------- > From: *David Joyner* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 5:15 AM > To: [email protected] > > > > If it were me, I'd mention the DE and calc notes at > http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wdj/teaching/calc1-sage/ > http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wdj/teaching/calc2-sage/ > http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wdj/teaching/DiffyQ/ > That's just me:-) > > > ---------- > From: *Rob Beezer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 5:22 PM > To: sage-edu <[email protected]> > > > > Hi William, > > Besides the usual overview of how easy it is to install SAGE, how many > goodies you get in one package, and the benefits of open-source, I'd > demo as many nontrivial capabilities of SAGE as possible. Maybe in > proportion to their weight in the undergraduate curriculum. > > Such as: > > Introductory statistics: IIRC the R program is included? > Calculus: Plotting, symbolic tools, limits > Multivariate: 3D plots, JMOL > Linear Algebra: Maybe over a finite field to demonstrate SAGE's > explicit support for other fields, plus your monster integer > determinants > Upper-division courses; whatever strikes your fancy > > Sharing/publishing notebooks, the public server at sagenb.org, and the > tools to make interactive demos with sliders and the like, would help > people imagine how the interface features would help them with their > courses. > > Should be a good opportunity to get some folks that are very > interested in education excited about SAGE. From my experience > organizing two of these conferences, you'll have folks from a wide > range of institutions represented, including many community colleges. > But everybody will be interested in new ways to improve their > teaching. > > Rob >> Hopefully most attendees want to attend one. A web pagehttp:// > www.cwu.edu/PNWMAA09will be up soonish. >> MAPCWU.PDF >> 756KViewDownload > > ---------- > From: *William Stein* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 2:05 PM > To: [email protected] > > > Thanks. That's a really helpful list of ideas! > -- > > ---------- > From: *kcrisman* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 6:03 PM > To: sage-edu <[email protected]> > > > > William et al., > > This is a great opportunity for Sage; I've been trying to advocate for > one locally as well. Some somewhat random thoughts organized around > the idea of showing how Sage is good from the start follow. > > I think that at these conferences people will also largely be > concerned with how much time it will take to get involved with > something like this - both for them and for their students. So > talking some about what a sysadmin might have to do to get a local one > set up, or how likely it is that sagenb.org will be a good option > (assuming these are both positive!) would be very helpful; the more > that teachers with a big teaching load - and their students - can get > right down to using Sage, the better. > > Additionally, you may want to emphasize that Sage can, as appropriate, > grow with the student (one of its big selling points for me). > Examples from VERY basic linear algebra i.e. just solving a 3x3 linear > system to showing how it could be used in an algebra or graph theory > course would be helpful, as then it is a long-term investment for the > department (as opposed to a pet project no one will help with). Don't > just try to wow them - we know that Mma and Maple can wow us, but how > easy is it to use them for practical concerns (like zooming 2-d graphs > to show a derivative at a point - how much work is that in Sage)? > Probably downplay the Python for lower level things, for the same > reason; even many of our more talented students resist using > programming structures, even loops, and in a service course this could > be a deal-breaker. Not that you have to convince them to use Sage > instead of Excel in a business math course, but the whole drag-down > concept in a spreadsheet, or static cell references, is often a big > stumbling block even there, so this is at least one level of course > you should be able to convince the attendees that Sage can be > effective at. > > Finally, I think it is key that everyone attending, if it's in a lab, > actually try not just to make a new account, but also to try to > actually upload a sample worksheet to their account so that they see > how it works. That gives them an idea right away of what the student > experience will be; my experience has been that I have often > underestimated how long it takes new users to pick up things that are > second nature to me now, like looking for the "Upload" button or that > it is a good idea to save your work! > > I don't think you can do all the things suggested in this thread in > one workshop, of course. If you can convince them that the learning > curve is not too high and that the students can pick things up without > too many office hour questions about Sage (as opposed to the math), I > think you can look forward to many adopting schools in Washington > State, which will lead to more workshops run by many Sage early > adopters to address more such issues. Good luck! If we're lucky > there will be many more such requests for workshops after the JMM as > well. > > - kcrisman > > > > > -- > William Stein > Associate Professor of Mathematics > University of Washington > http://wstein.org > > > > > -- > William Stein > Associate Professor of Mathematics > University of Washington > http://wstein.org > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. 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