Microsoft® Math Product Guide

Microsoft® Math is a set of mathematical tools that

can help students get their work done quickly and

easily while promoting a better understanding of

mathematical concepts. The primary tool in Microsoft

Math is a full-featured scientific calculator with

extensive graphing and equation-solving capabilities.

It is designed to work just like a handheld calculator,

but offers a wide range of additional tools that deepen

students’ knowledge of complex mathematics.

“Microsoft Math provides a space for nurturing student

learning in mathematics with dynamic visualizations.

The program provides essential ingredients for classroom

environments designed to challenge all students to

engage in visual thinking.” —Margaret L. Neiss

Professor of Mathematics Education,

Oregon State University

OverviewMicrosoft Math provides students and teachers with a wide range of tools, including the following:

• A 2-D and 3-D graphing calculator to graph complex equations

• A Step-by-step Equation Solver to walk students through math problems

• An Equation Library, which puts more than 100 common equations and formulas in a single location

• A Triangle Solver that helps students explore the relationships between the parts of triangles

• A Unit Conversion Tool for fast, easy conversion of different measurements

• An Ink Handwriting Support feature for added flexibility in how students work

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OverviewMicrosoft Math features a host of math tools designed to help students learn mathematical concepts. This collection of tools, tutorials and instructions helps students tackle math and science problems in one central location.

Teachers say that students need more help with their homework. In addition, the majority of those teachers believe the quality of work and overall performance are enhanced when students use technology both at home and at school. And, as any child will admit, math is often a stumbling block to student success.

The easy-to-use interface of Microsoft Math looks like a calculator— a familiar tool—but with a difference: It moves the emphasis from solving mathematical equations to increasing understanding of math and promoting lifelong skills.

Microsoft Math gives students a worksheet and a graphing space. Combined, these features enable students to explore mathematical functions to better understand them. In addition, these abilities provide an invaluable tool for teachers, who can use Microsoft Math to create visual images of many mathematical ideas. As just a few examples, students can do any of the following activities:

• Walk through the steps necessary to solve common algebra problems

• Dynamically manipulate graphs of functions and equations

• Visualize systems of inequalities to identify regions for solutions to problems

• Conduct explorations in three dimensions

• Enter multiple data sets and search for patterns from the visual graphics

“When solving a quadratic

equation, Microsoft Math

doesn’t just churn and spit out

one of the solutions. Instead,

it shows you both solutions

and how to obtain them using

square completion or the

quadratic equation.”

—Jonathan BriggsMath Teacher, East Side

Preparatory School Kirkland, Washington

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Step-by-Step Equation SolutionsThe Step-by-step Equation Solver generator gives students the support they need by providing them with complete walk-through solutions to many math problems in middle-school and high-school pre-algebra, algebra I, algebra II, and trigonometry classes.

In addition to supporting students when they are learning on their own, this feature is also ideal within a classroom setting because it allows a teacher to quickly display a particular solution method applied to a specific math problem.

Graphing Calculator A major component of Microsoft Math, the graphing calculator is a groundbreaking complement to the calculators already required by most schools. It is designed primarily to help students visualize and solve difficult math and science problems, whether trigonometry, statistics, algebra, or calculus. Support for calculus includes functions on limits, series, derivatives and integrals.

By graphing complex equations, students get not only a better way to solve their homework problems, but also help in gaining a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind those problems. This ability is enhanced through sophisticated graphing capabilities that allow students to view, rotate and animate large 2-D and enhanced 3-D color graphs. An animated slider enables them to make changes to the equation and see the effect on the graph.

In addition, reusing common numbers and expressions can save time when there are multiple problems to solve. With the graphing calculator, it’s simple to add and store variables.

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Equation LibraryWith more than 100 interactive common math equations and formulas in a single location, students can find and interact with the right equations necessary to solve problems. If they want, they can quickly graph these equations using the graphing calculator.

Triangle Solver The Triangle Solver helps students explore triangles and the relationships between their parts. As a student enters the values for sides and angles, the displayed triangle changes shape to reflect those values. Once enough values are entered, the remaining sides and angles are completed and the trigonometric rules used are called out.

Unit Conversion Tool The Unit Conversion Tool makes it easy for students to quickly convert units of measure such as length, area, volume, weight, temperature, pressure, energy, power, velocity and time.

Ink Handwriting SupportNew support for Tablet and Ultra-Mobile PCs means that students can do their math homework more naturally, by writing it out. Microsoft Math contains handwriting recognition software tailored to math, giving it high recognition accuracy. As a result, students can enter mathematical expressions as they would on paper.

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System RequirementsMicrosoft Math requires the following:

• A personal computer with a Pentium 600MHz or faster processor (1GHz or faster processor recommended)

• Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or later

• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB or more recommended)

• 450 MB of available hard disk space

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (requires between 200 MB and 450 MB of hard disk space)

• VGA-capable or better video card with a minimum 640x480 resolution (1024x768 recommended)

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