The Use of On‐Line Interactive Programs for Teaching Numerical Methods

In this paper I give an account of the origin and evolution of the set of programs, collectively known as MATHLAB, developed at the University of Reading as a teaching aid to accompany courses in Numerical Analysis. In Section 1, I discuss the basic philosophy common to the programs and the value placed on interactive algorithms, which should be instructive rather than efficient. In Section 2, I describe the Kent On‐line System, which has certain features not usually associated with the Basic language. In Section 3, I discuss some solutions to the problem of how to convey information about algorithms to the user. In Section 4, I give examples of instructive exercises that can be done with the programs and finally I relate some opinions from the teachers concerned on how they feel the scheme has worked so far.