Computer Products for Education

When was the last time you had to solve a quadratic equation by hand? If, like me, you haven’t needed that particular skill since high school, then you’ve probably wondered what all that fuss was about! And it’s a good question: why did we spend so much time on those puzzling, formulaic second-degree beasts, using up pencils and erasers like they were going out of fashion, just to find the value of x?

The truth is, in the real, working world of 2015, the value of that pesky x will invariably be found by a computer. The sooner education acknowledges this fact, the better. So says Conrad Wolfram, whose Computer-Based Maths (CBM) initiative is using Wolfram technologies to bring computers and coding into mainstream maths curricula around the world.

The fourth Computer-Based Maths Education Summit in London this November is planned to be a highly interactive meeting of bright minds—it will feature lively debate and small group sessions, as well as some exciting speakers. These speakers include former Estonian Education Minister Jaak Aaviksoo, Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton, and Computing At School Chair Simon Peyton Jones.

The CBM Summit will take place November 19–20 at the celebrated Royal Institution of Great Britain in London’s Mayfair district. The historic building, which has housed the Royal Institution since 1799, is associated with some of the greatest names in science, notably Michael Faraday and Sir Humphry Davy. If you’d like to join them in breaking new ground, register for the summit now.