The Mathematics Department at Mount Holyoke College will purchase a micro VAX-II, peripherals, and software in order to establish a mathematics computer laboratory to be used in three ways. First, students in a course, required of majors, called Laboratory in Mathematical Experimentation, will investigate mathematical problems which are best attacked using a computer. Examples of these are topics in chromatic polynormials and unimodality; topics dealing with prime numbers; randomness; chaotic dynamical systems; the Mandelbrot set. This laboratory will force students to come to grips with mathematical ideas through experimentation and conjecture, ensure some proficiency with the computer, and help foster precise thinking and writing. Second, in advanced courses students can build on their experience in the laboratory to use the computer more easily to work on interesting problems. Third, in senior independent work the availability of the computer will increase the number and sophistication of independent projects available to a student, and she will have had considerable experience so that she can start the project at a higher level.
