Electronic Proceedings of the Seventh Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

Orlando, Florida, November 17-20, 1994

Paper P025

Interdisciplinary Lively Applications Projects (ILAPs) Bringing Relevance to Mathematics

Richard D. West


US Military Academy
West Point, NY 10996
USA

list of all papers by this author

Joseph D. Myers


US Military Academy
West Point, NY 10996
USA


ABSTRACT

In 1990 the US Military Academy changed to a bold new core mathematics curriculum which addressed seven topics in four semester-long courses. The catalyst for this change was technology. As this curriculum evolved over the years, opportunities for synthesis and connections to the rest of the Academy's curriculum were sought. This 16 credit hour core math curriculum was seen as the ideal place for enrichment with exposure to many math science and engineering disciplines through what we now call Interdisciplinary Lively Applications Projects (ILAPs). These projects were first implemented in academic year 92-93. This poster session will exhibit and explain some of our experiences and will advertise for the more general use of ILAPs.

To enliven the presentation of core mathematics at USMA, two or three ILAPs are incorporated into the syllabus of each course. Each project requires the use of technology and an analysis by the student significantly greater than the normal 'application' problem. Our presentation will illustrate the use of CAS and spreadsheets (DERIVE and Quattro Pro in our case, adaptable to many others) in these ILAPs.


Keyword(s): applications, computer algebra systems