Program Your Calculator (Large Print Edition)

The publisher is William R. Parks: www.wrparks.com Large print edition 8.5 x 11 is $10.95. The 6 x 9 in. edition is available for $7.95. Dr. Gerald Rising and Dr. Deborah Moore-Russo, of the University at Buffalo and Dr. Eileen Schoaff of Buffalo State College wrote "Program Your Calculator," to give an introduction to programming with the TI-84 calculator through a series of interesting examples. James Easton, instructor at Erie Community College, Buffalo, NY, finds "Program Your Calculator" a very useful text for both individual and classroom settings, especially at a time when programming is rarely taught in mathematics classes. Easton said, "Students gain much insight into mathematical concepts through programming and this book opens that opportunity to them. This doubles or triples the power of the calculator." Professor Rising explains why he considers their book important: "Check any science lab or engineering workplace and you will find an extraordinary number of hand-held calculators in daily use, but too few users employ the programming power of their calculators. By programming them according to the instructions this text provides, they can make their tiny devices respond to the specific problems in which they are interested: solving complex equations, replicating experiments, modeling real world applications and creating exquisite graphs. The power of the calculator increases significantly." "Programming was a central part of the school mathematics curriculum in the past. Today it is rarely taught except in specialized computer science courses. In Germany and Japan the situation is different: calculator programming is widely taught and applied." Rising says he hopes "Program Your Calculator" will address our nation's deficiency: "Our book is a brief, straightforward presentation that can be used in school or college classrooms or by individual learners." A simple example of a program Rising wrote is called LOTTERY, which models the national MegaMillions lottery. It allows users to "buy" as many dollar tickets as they wish and see the probable outcome. "Running this program," he says, "shows in striking fashion what little return players receive from their 'investments.'" Rising has written the popular " Inside Your Calculator," published by John Wiley and Sons, which explains the math behind the calculator functions. About the Authors: Gerald R. Rising is State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, University at Buffalo and has been author or co-author of over a dozen textbooks and 100 journal articles. A more recent book is "Inside Your Calculator: From Simple Programs to Significant Insights" (Wiley, 2007). Professor Rising has taught at the University of Minnesota, New York University, University of Connecticut, Cornell University, and Manchester University in England. A regular speaker at Mathematical Association of America section meetings, he served for over ten years on the Joint American Statistical Association and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Committee on the Curriculum in Statistics and Probability, and for two years served as liaison officer between the Mathematical Association of America and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Eileen K. Schoaff is Professor of Mathematics Emeritus, Buffalo State College. She earned a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching for her teaching at the college and at the University at Buffalo. Schoaff has written two books and a number of articles about programming. Deborah Moore-Russo is Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at the University at Buffalo. Prior to this she taught mathematics for five years at St. Gregory's College in Oklahoma and for eight years at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayag ez. She has been author or co-author of two mathematics textbooks and almost 50 articles in science, mathematics and engineering education.