New approach for visualising complex mathematic topics

Since this academic year both lecturers and students can benefit from a new form in teaching and learning complex mathematic topics.

The interfaculty mathematics education team PRIME has developed a novel visualisation approach with an interactive animation. the aim of the interactive video is to increase the intuition behind the complex subject by showing a geometric interpretation. The new approach is very handy for visualising complex topics during and after class that cannot be easily sketched or drawn in a dynamic and interactive manner.  Users can, for example, change the function that is plotted, drag points of interest or change the camera angle. . The  animated video can be interacted with while it is paused or playing. Lecturers can use the interactive animations, usually while on 'pause', to explain and illustrate their lecture. Students can explore the interactive animation afterwards at home to recap and expand their understanding of the lecture, and use the interactive animations to do their homework exercises. Accompanying exercises have been made for students in the Grasple platform.  

The approach has been used to develop a short series on directional derivatives and level curves. This is a topic taught in first-year Calculus courses. The series is now being used in most calculus courses for engineering students at TU Delft.