Not another computer algebra system: Highlighting wxMaxima in calculus

TL;DR

This paper presents wxMaxima as a computer algebra system tailored for calculus education, emphasizing its pedagogical benefits and limitations to enhance teaching at the tertiary level.

Contribution

It introduces wxMaxima as an educational tool for calculus, highlighting its strengths and limitations to promote its adoption and further development in teaching contexts.

Findings

wxMaxima supports calculus teaching at tertiary level

The software has notable strengths for educational purposes

Limitations identified to guide future improvements

Abstract

This article introduces and explains a computer algebra system (CAS) wxMaxima for Calculus teaching and learning at the tertiary level. The didactic reasoning behind this approach is the need to implement an element of technology into classrooms to enhance students' understanding of Calculus concepts. For many mathematics educators who have been using CAS, this material is of great interest, particularly for secondary teachers and university instructors who plan to introduce an alternative CAS into their classrooms. By highlighting both the strengths and limitations of the software, we hope that it will stimulate further debate not only among mathematics educators and software users but also also among symbolic computation and software developers.