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INTRODUCING LATEX IN MATH 236, MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS

A substantial obstacle to using a regular word processing program like Word or ClarisWorks to typeset mathematics is that many of the sophisticated options depend on the specific configuration of each machine. The Mathematics Department has recently adopted a requirement that all 300 level courses contain a written component, so there is the need for our students to be able to typeset mathematical papers. I introduced my Multivariable Calculus students to LaTeX, which is a cross-platform application designed for typesetting sophisticated mathematics. The students were required to use LaTeX on many small assignments during the term and also on a short essay on the takehome final.

Report

Pedagogical Goals

The primary motivation for introducing LaTeX is that our students do not have a good way to typeset mathematics. In my Topology class in the Fall 1995, the students tried using the Equation Editor in Word, but this did not work well because it depended on the specific fonts installed on each machine. When they moved to a different machine in one of the public labs, their documents did not appear the same.

There are two major reasons why LaTeX has become so popular among mathematicians and physicists. First, the source code for the program is in the public domain so there are shareware and freeware implementations for nearly every computing platform (I have used LaTeX on DOS, Windows, and Unix machines as well as on the Mac). Second, since LaTeX files are plain text files, they can easily be shared among different platforms and even sent by email.

Multivariable Calculus is the appropriate place to introduce LaTeX because all of the students are mathematics or science majors who will have a need for the sophisticated mathematical typesetting that LaTeX supports. In addition, since the Mathematics Department now requires every 300 level course to include both a written and verbal component, these students will now have the familiarity with LaTeX to use it in subsequent courses.

Strategy

I introduced the students to LaTeX in the first week of the semester, and then I required one problem in each weekly homework set to be typeset using LaTeX. On the takehome final, I asked the students to write a two page essay in LaTeX that gave their view of the big picture of Multivariable Calculus.

Assessment

Since the primary goal was to develop competence with LaTeX, I did no formal assessment beyond requiring the specific assignments to be typeset. All of the students gained some proficiency, and some were clearly more taken by the typesetting than others. In fact, one of my Calculus II students saw the Multivariable students using LaTeX, and he began using it for his papers in Calc II. However, the real benfits of introducing LaTeX cannot be measured until these students enter a 300 level course where they will do more significant mathematical typesetting.

Last updated on 12/06/00;
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