Can Mathematics be done on Pocket PCs? When we first seriously investigated this question in the Fall of 2002, we expected that the answer was no. We knew that we could do some simple calculator mathematics and thought there was not much out there. However, if you dig deep enough and put in the right combination of phrases in one of the well know search engines, you will find some interesting results. Some of these results were reported at recent ICTCM (International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics) meetings (see Paper (ICTCM 2002) and List of Links for Mathematics on Pocket Computers). Of course, one might ask why do mathematics on Pocket PCs. We can address that issue later, though we would like to note that it is possible that such handheld devices may become more abundant over the next decade.
NEW Review of Mathematics on Pocket PCs - New Orleans ICTCM 2004 - PPT (4 MB)
[This is the beginning of a list of programs that run on Handheld and Pocket PC devices.]
Categories
Graphing Utilities and Calculators
RDCalc The best programmable graphing calculator for the PPC with loads of hidden features, including a nice periodic table and tables of physical constants.
GraphData This utility was written as a tool for plotting and analysis of data captured from Pocket Excel. Linear, exponential, power law and inverse relations can be fitted to the data. This program can be found in the iLumina Digital Library and further information can be found at Pocket AutoGraph makes is used to quickly create graphs from the data in Pocket Excel spreadsheets.
Gnuplot on WinCE One of many ports of open source packages to earlier versions of HPC and PPC operating systems.
MRI Graphing Calculator - This is another powerful graphing and scientific calculator for PPC.
Ptab - PTab is a fully functional spreadsheet with the features of common desktop spreadsheets.
Pocket Atlantis This is a recent package with both PPC and desktop applications for graphing and performing numerical computations, such as numerical integration of single through triple integrals.
Math.NET This is a library of graphing and computational utilities being developed for programmers. While seemingly incomplete, there may be something interesting in the future from this site.
Vinny Graph for PPC .
Symbolic Systems
Data Acquisition
Data Harvest DATAQ System This system works on handhelds and pocket PCs with a variety of probes and can use many of the Vernier probes. Flash Logger The EasySense Flash card logger slips solidly into the Compact Flash expansion slot of your Pocket PC to form a completely integrated probe solution. This is also a product of Data Harvest. [See above.]
Miscellaneous Packages
Other Platforms
PocketDOSPocketDOS is based on an IBM PC/XT emulator for Windows CE which emulates a PC with an 80186 processor, 1Mb of RAM, a CGA-compatible display. PocketDOS is able to provide the same level of application compatibility as the original IBM PC/XT, while still allowing the H/PC or P/PC user access to all of the features and applications of the Windows CE operating system.
Linux/Unix Some places to look for embedded Linux OS are for Palm III.The NetBSD Operating System is a fully functional Open Source UNIX-like operating system. However, at this time it appears that there Linux OS are restricted to certain platforms.
Palm Pilot There are several programs for doing mathematics on Palm Pilots. However, there appears to be quite a bit more for devices running the PPC 2002 OS. Other site summaries for Mathematics on Palm OS
Pocket Console
Command Prompts
Development Tools
MS Embedded Visual Tools This free environment coupled with appropriate SDKs (Microsoft development packages) allows users to program in embedded Visual C++ or embedded Visual Basic to create stand alone applications that run on pocket and handheld computers.
NS Basic On October 30, 2002 the NS Basic Corporation announced the immediate availability of NS Basic/CE 4.0, a development tool for all commercial Windows CE and Pocket PC devices, including those from HP, Compaq, Casio and others.
Visual Studio .NET This next wave of programming includes embedded programming, which is also important in mobile phones systems, and is combining the embedded environment into that for standard PC operating systems.
Pocket GCC is an open-source mutliplatform C/C++ compiler and supporting tools.
Macromedia Flash.
Flash Math
Examples of creative uses of Macromedia Flash using simple mathematics routines.
Macromedia Flash Player for PPC Macromedia Flash 6.0 files can be viewed on systems with Pocket PC 2002.
Flash Differential Equations Tools See the IDEAS Project page for these tools for creating Flash models for mathematics classes.
Student Response System
Numina II SRS This is a Web-based student response system that uses a combination of wireless networks, handheld computers, and a data projector to allow students to submit responses to questions posed by an instructor. The instructor poses a question in a multiple-choice, true/false, yes/no, or opinion-based format and directs students to a Web site that generates a form on their computer screens through which they submit their responses.
Russell L. Herman is an Associate Professor in the and Statistics at UNCW. This is an evolving article and is based upon work of the Numina Group and with Dr. Gabriel Lugo, who is also in the and Statistics at UNCW.
