Wolfram releases a new e-learning application, and raises some old issues. "The more I looked at Mathematica," writes Stephen Shankland, "the more it seemed that all that struggling to find the integral of sec^3(x)dx in Mrs. Strong's 12th-grade calculus class was, in a sense, busywork." Well, yeah, it becomes, in essence, a fancy calculator (and is hence e-learning about as much as a calculator is). Meanwhile, "I see computer-aided knowledge as an asset," writes Shankland. "Google and Wikipedia may often substitute for real research and learning, but in my experience they've opened up vistas of knowledge I hadn't realized existed." At least Wolfram has done some learning, finally realizing you can't charge $50 for an iPhone. See also: Microsoft math and more.
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