EJMT Abstract

Interactive manipulation of mathematical objects on a PC screen and paper and pencil-based activities to process mathematical reasoning are both important aspects of mathematics education. In order to establish an effective linkage between these two sorts of activities, we have developed a plug-in named KeTCindy for the excellent dynamic geometry software Cinderella. KeTCindy converts graphical objects drawn with Cinderella into TeX readable code that generates the corresponding high-quality mathematical artwork in a PDF output. To improve the graphics capabilities of the KeTCindy system, using it collaboratively with the symbolic computation capabilities of various computer algebra systems like Maxima or well-structured simulation capabilities of statistical software like R is desirable. Therefore, we have added the ability to invoke those computing software programs and importing the data calculated or simulated by them into Cinderella. Combining the imported data with the interactive graphics capability of Cinderella should result in the ability to present an extremely wide range of mathematical objects. In this paper, we will show some basic functions of the KeTCindy system together with some sample class materials generated with it. While showing them, the merits of the above mentioned collaborative use will be emphasized.