Mathematica in the classroom: new tools for exploring precalculus and differential calculus

Prémio de Melhor Artigo de Jovem Investigador atribuído pela empresa Timberlake, apresentado na 1ª Conferência Nacional sobre Computação Simbólica no Ensino e na Investigação - CSEI2012, que decorreu no IST nos dias 2 e 3 de Abril.The main goal of this paper is to present some interactive tools, F-Tools, designed by us and implemented with the computer algebra system Mathematica, which we hope will improve the teaching-and-learning process by providing teachers and students alike with new ways to explore some of the main mathematical subjects, at the secondary and university levels, speci cally in the areas of precalculus and di erential calculus. We believe that these new tools are an important contribution to Mathematical Education, providing new ways for teaching and learning. We intend to make available several F-Tools, such as F-Linear, F-Quadratic, F-Exponential, F-Logarithm, and F-Trigonometric, at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project site