This 9-page Interactive Web Book is a symphony of good mathematical pedagogy, artificial intelligence, and graphic art. It is an introduction to quadratic functions and quadratic growth. And it is full of experiments that will help you understand the ideas, beginning with Galileo's law of freely falling bodies. You control the simulations, so that you may step into Galileo's shoes and discover for yourself the mystery of "Natural Motion" - of uniform acceleration.
This Interactive Web Book tells its story on each page in a new way. Right-click where indicated on each screen to pop-up a menu, and choose Help, Help for this Page to view the Windows HTML Help for that page. These Help pages guide the reader through each topic with lively illustrations and with a discussion that presents the mathematics in textbook quality displayed formulas and charts.
Other experiments include tossing a ball up with various velocities, and applying the brakes to stop a car moving at various speeds. Different representations for quadratic functions are explored, and the relations of those representations to their graphs is developed through interaction.
Solving quadratic equations, both by graphing, and algebraically, is the central theme of this unique work. For this, the Book generates quadratic equations randomly, or allows you to make them up. In either case, it draws the graph and so displays the solution graphically, then explains, step-by-step, how to solve the quadratic equation algebraically. It does this for your problems also!
This is followed by a masterful treatment of quadratic inequalities. Whether you use an inequality it generates, or you make one up, it graphs the inequality, and shows which interval(s) in the line provide(s) the solution, by drawing those interval(s). Next, it gives a step-by-step explanation (using its built-in Expert System) of how the inequality can be solved algebraically.
All in all, it is a self-contained, animated exploration of the basic facts about quadratic functions. You may read it on the web in your browser, or off-line. Read at your own pace and enjoy this thoughtful discussion as a supplement to your studies. The book is full of questions (literally an unlimited number of them!) but the most important questions will be your own. And the book invites you to ask them. It will supply detailed answers for many questions that you may have about solving quadratic equations or solving quadratic inequalities.
The Windows HTML Help files can easily be printed, and they offer the familiar amenities. In particular, Help, Help for this Microworld provides a Table of Contents, so that readers can navigate smoothly from one topic to the next. It also explains how to prepare your machine to use Access Databases in case it is not ready to do so.