Students take to software for help with maths

"Learning mathematics can be a problem for many students, especially when it comes to understanding concepts and visualising solutions. Increasingly, more schools are looking at free software resources such as GeoGebra to help their students understand the subject better." continues The Hindu.

A.N. Radhakrishnan (second from right), Correspondent, P.S. Senior Secondary School, greets Rajeeva Karandaka, Director, Chennai Mathematical Institute at a workshop on ‘Chennai Geogebra’ on Monday. Zekeriya Karadag, Bayburt University, Turkey, and Mikko Rahikka (right), Finnish Geogebra Institute. 
Photo: The Hindu

GeoGebra brings together geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphs, statistics and calculus to help teachers and students of all levels.

“Whenever I have a problem with a concept, I try it out on GeoGebra — for example, some curves can be tough to visualise, so I enter the values on the software, which helps be understand the solution,” Harivallabha, a Class XII student at the P.S. Senior Secondary School explained.

The school has been using the software on smart boards for the past one year.

Many students face difficulty relating geometry and algebra and free software solutions could be the key to helping them, Mikko Rahikka from Finland, a resource person for GeoGebra, said.

“The traditional method of teachers drawing a graph on the board has a number of limitations, which can be overcome by using apps like this,” he said.

Since it is free, students and teachers can download GeoGebra in their schools or home.

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Source: The Hindu