9451834 Hendrick The Colgate Department of Mathematics proposes to create a computing laboratory for use in multi variable calculus and a variety of upper-division courses including linear algebra and differential equations, numerical analysis, mathematical modeling, and probability and statistics. This laboratory will be equipped with computers capable of running the program Mathematica. A unique element of this laboratory will be the services it provides to users outside the laboratory. By using Colgate's fiber-optic ethernet network, every student with a personal computer will be able to access the laboratory and Mathematica from any location on campus. The multi variable calculus course is the linchpin for this project, because it is required of all majors and because, as the last general course taken before entering the mathematics concentration, it heavily influences which students choose to major in mathematics. We intend to develop Mathematica notebooks for this course that emphasize visualization and exploration. These notebooks will be assigned as weekly projects. Similar notebooks have already been created for some of our other upper-division courses. To equip the laboratory, we are requesting 18 computers in all. Seventeen personal computers capable of running the NeXTStep operating system and Mathematica are requested, 15 for the laboratory and two for classroom use. To support network users of Mathematica, we are also requesting one powerful workstation computer. One overhead display panel is requested for classroom demonstrations.
