Combining mathematics and computers : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

This computer program is a combination of a few commonly experienced and taught applications of mathematics and a file or "record keeping" system for the teacher. It is written in the Turbo Pascal computer language and concerns proportions, percents, and word problems that include sale price problems, Pythagorean theorem applications, and some miscellaneous problems.The proportions are randomly drawn from a data file of problems, and the percent problems are randomly generated. Once the user has responded to a problem, a randomly chosen statement of praise is displayed on the screen if the answer was correct. If the user answered incorrectly, the correct value is displayed with a randomly chosen encouragementstatement.The main emphasis of my program was upon the word problem section that contains various word problem "shells" for each area. These "shells" determine the type of mathematical manipulation necessary to calculate the answer, but the user can determine what topics the problems concern. Also, the use of the word problem "shells" makes the program more versatile by allowing a wide range of problems of varying difficulty levels to be produced from just a few of these "shells."The "record keeping" portion is for the convenience of the teacher. It creates and manipulates data bases of information. It records the user's performance on the various portions testing mathematical skills. These files can be viewed, evaluated, and manipulated by the teacher.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?.