This is an introductory lab for Math 101. This lab will not count towards your lab mark so just relax and enjoy. We want to give you a feel for what your future labs will be like without causing you too much stress. Read through the material below and follow the instructions.

If you are already an internet expert, this lab may seem very simple to you and that's great. However, you should still try to submit the lab using your login name and student number just to make sure everything is working properly.

Moving About On the Page

As you read this on the computer screen, you might wonder what all the stuff on the top of the screen does. Don't worry: we'll introduce you to that later. However, we would like to show you the scroll bar on the side of the page. It looks like the picture just to the right. This can help you position the text that you want to read in the centre of the screen. To use it, simply move the mouse so that the pointer is on top of the scroll bar. Now hold down the left mouse button and drag the scroll bar down and then back up. Do you notice how the text moves in the window? This will enable you to expose new text after you have read what is visible on your screen.

Your first task

Since there are so many resources available to you online, we would like you to be comfortable reading a piece of text on the screen. Below are a few short paragraphs. After you read them, answer the question which follows.

History of Mathematics Section

Carl F. Gauss was born in Germany. His father was a labourer who had little patience for education and little love or appreciation of mathematics. If not for young Gauss' incredible talent, chances are that he would have never even been exposed to the field in which he was to become a giant. When still a youngster of three years old, he found an error in his father's book-keeping. In elementary school, when he was ten years old, the schoolmaster, who liked keeping the children occupied with mindless drudgery, assigned the following problem: Add up all the integers from one to 100. Much to his amazement, (and annoyance) Carl brought up his slate with the answer instantly for he had already figured out the shortcut to adding up any number of consecutive integers with a tidy little formula. Gauss used to say, with some humor, that he could do mathematics before he could talk.

Gauss made many mathematical contributions in a variety of fields. Among these were algebra, complex numbers, number theory, and applied areas such as electricity, and astronomy. It is said that one of his favorite sayings was "Mathematics is the queen of sciences, and the theory of numbers is the queen of mathematics." He strived for perfection in his written work, always taking time to polish and refine his mathematical ideas and reasoning. Another of his mottos was "Pauca sed matura" (Few, but ripe), borrowed from a well-known English play. He used it to emphasize his deep appreciation of the wonders of science and natural phenomena and his commitment to understanding them.

• (a) The quotation about nature that Gauss adopted as a motto comes from the famous play The King and I, by Rogers and Hammerstein.
• (b) The unit of electric field (a gauss) was named after Gauss' father, who had done extensive work in electricity before the Carl was born.
• (c) The saying "Pauca sed matura" refers to the kinds of fruit that Gauss liked to eat for dessert.
• (d) When Gauss was a little boy, he added up the first 100 integers and got the number 5005, the only correct answer in his class.
• (e) None of the above.

Select the box that applies.

Interactive Diagrams

Many of the questions in the labs will be interactive. Right now we will look at a demonstration of a way to write down the equation of a line. Most of you will be familiar with the equation y = m x + b. Here we want to remind you of a more general form

To use the diagram, click on the dot near the origin and drag it to a new location. You will see that the equation changes as you move. If you want to change the slope of the line, click on Change Slope. You can then drag the new dot that appear at the origin to change the slope of the line. Try it. If you have a colour terminal, you will see that in general things you can move or change are red.

Your job:
Modify the line so that it passes through the point (-2.3,1.2) and has a slope of -1/2. Think about how the equation for the line is being written and what the pieces mean and you will have an easy time answering the question.

Questions with Multiple Parts

Many times, a question will have more than one part. The question below is an example of this. To do part a, click on "Part a" in the diagram below. When you want to move on to part b, click on "Part b". You can always go back to any part and change your answer.

Select part a. We want you to remember how to find the area of a triangle. You can move one of the vertices of the triangle above. Move it so that the triangle has an area of 3.

Select part b. Now we want you to remember the formula for the area of a trapezoid. Drag the vertex so that the trapezoid has an area of 5.

Saving Your Work

You are able to save and load your work to and from our server. At the bottom of each lab, you will see a panel like the one below.

First type your userid (the name you used to log in with) and your student number (the 8 digit number that identifies you at UBC) into the fields below. You won't be able to see your student number as you type it. Once you have done this, you can click one of the two buttons below. Load and Save do what you expect, they load and save your work. After you have saved your work, you should see a message confirming that your work has been saved. If you do not see it, ask a T.A. for some assistance. Once you have saved your work, you can return to it later using the Load button.

Remember: you aren't going to be graded, so don't worry. You might want to also practice saving and loading your work a few times.

Sending us e-mail

Now we'd like you to send us an email message. This is a message which will be delivered electronically to us. When you click on the underlined text below, a new box will come up with our email address already entered into a box which says "Mail To:". On the subject line, please type "Test Message" and then enter your message. It can be anything you'd like us to read. Once the message is set up, click on the button at the top of the box which reads "Send." That's all there is to it.

Now click on the underlined text to send us an email message.

We hope to receive your comments often during the term. Often, we will reply to your comments, so you might want to get into the habit of checking your e-mail. To do this, click on the mailbox button --the one that looks like this:

at the bottom right corner of the Netscape window. A new window will appear containing new messages if you have any.

That's it for this part of the lab. If you have never used a web browser before, we have a short tutorial on using Netscape for you. It can be accessed by clicking on the underlined text below. This is called a hypertext link and it is very much like turning the page in a book. We'll discuss this a bit more in the tutorial.

If you are already a Netscape expert, please go to the tutorial and follow the link at the bottom of that page to go to our home page. From there, you can explore as you wish.

Click here to go the Netscape tutorial.

We also encourage you to explore further using some of the resources on the links provided below. However, be aware that if you leave this page before submitting, your work will be lost. If you wish to follow one of the links below, please submit your work first.

Historical Tidbits (course taught at Seton Hall Univ)

MacTutor History of Mathematics archive (course taught at University of St Andrews, UK)

Gosse's Interesting Math Sites (Course taught at Bishop's College, NewF.)

Web Resources for the History of Mathematics A variety of amazing links