Abstract
As an approach for improving the mathematical capability of students, visualization of mathematical expressions is considered to be effective, thus being employed in academic programs so far. Unless the students, however, get actively involved in this program, the visualization approach is not as effective as expected. Here, we have made an attempt to introduce a new approach using MATLAB/MuPAD, where each student can vary arbitrarily the range of variables or parameters in mathematical expressions based on its visualized 2D or 3D outputs and may repeat this process to the satisfaction of each. As a result, a number of students can intuitively grasp the behavior of mathematical expressions and the sensitivity to parameters in use. In this paper, we present several examples of the above new approach applied to mathematical and engineering subjects for the first and second year students of Kanazawa Institute of Technology; the results of comprehension tests and questionnaires obtained in these subjects suggest an educational effect.
