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How often do you still use "pencil and paper" to do your math?

Most of the time (80% or more)
47% (63 votes)
Usually (50% - 79%)
17% (23 votes)
Some times (20% - 49%)
22% (29 votes)
Rarely (19% or less)
14% (19 votes)
Total votes: 134

Comments

most of the time I use both

Comment on 2006-08-03 11:48 from murison (9)

I use pencil & paper "most of the time", but that does not describe very completely how I do things. Most of the time, I start with p & p to get an initial feel for a problem, sketch figures, and map out a path for solving it. Usually (i.e., "most of the time"), at some point it becomes either convenient or necessary to continue the problem in Maple. So, in fact, "most of the time" I use both pencil & paper and Maple.

azdbacks4234's picture

Pencil and Paper + Maple

Comment on 2006-08-03 17:45 from azdbacks4234 (Maple Rating 1 35)

I usually work problems by hand, or at least start them by hand. If it's a really complicated problem (solving high-order linear ODE's via the method of undetermined coefficients comes to mind), I will usually work through it on Maple before doing it all with pencil and paper to avoid wasting a lot of time working a problem incorrectly. I always use Maple for checking computational problems and visualizing surfaces, plots, etc.. So yes, I too, "most of the time" use pencil and paper and Maple.

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