Authors:
Antti Valmari
and
Johanna Rantala
Affiliation:
Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä and Finland
Keyword(s):
Computer-aided Education, Mathematics Education, Computer Science Education.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer-Supported Education
;
e-Learning
;
e-Learning Hardware and Software
Abstract:
MathCheck is a web-based tool for checking all steps of solutions to mathematics, logic and theoretical computer science problems, instead of checking just the final answers. It can currently deal with seven problem types related to arithmetic, logic, and syntax. Although MathCheck does have some ability to perform symbolic computation, checking is mostly based on testing with many combinations of the values of the variables in question. This introduces a small risk of failure of detection of errors, but also significantly widens the scope of problems that can be dealt with and facilitates providing a concrete counter-example when the student’s solution is incorrect. So MathCheck is primarily a feedback tool, not an assessment tool. MathCheck is more faithful to established mathematical notation than most programs. Special attention has been given to rigorous processing of undefined expressions, such as division by zero. To make this possible, in addition to the two truth values “fal
se” and “true”, it uses a third truth value “undefined”.
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