The Geometer's Sketchpad is a commercial interactive geometry software program for exploring Euclidean geometry, algebra, calculus, and other areas of mathematics. It was created by Nicholas Jackiw for the Visual Geometry Project at Swarthmore College.[1] It is designed to run on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 or later and Mac OS 8.6 or later (including Mac OS X). It also runs on Linux under Wine with a few bugs.[2]
Features
Geometer's Sketchpad includes the traditional Euclidean tools of classical geometric constructions. If a figure (such as the pentadecagon) can be constructed with the compass and straightedge method, it can also be constructed in the program. The program allows "cheat" transformations to create figures impossible to construct under the compass and straightedge rules (such as the regular nonagon). Objects can be animated.
The program allows the creation of numerous objects which can be measured, and potentially used to solve hard math problems. The program allows the determination of the midpoints and midsegments of objects. Geometer's Sketchpad can measure lengths of segments, measures of angles, area, perimeter, etc. Some of the tools include a construct function, which allows the user to create objects in relation to selected objects. The transform function allows the user to create points in relation to objects, which include distance, angle, ratio, and others.
See also
List of interactive geometry software
Lénárt sphere
References
Scher, Daniel. Lifting the Curtain: The Evolution of The Geometer's Sketchpad Mathematics Educator, v10 n 2 pp 42–48 Sum 2000
WineHQ AppDB gold rating, GSP version 4.061
Further reading
Kimberling, Clark. Geometry in Action: A Discovery Approach Using The Geometer's Sketchpad. Key College Publishing, Emeryville, California, (2003), ISBN 1-931914-02-8.
Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics
Graduate Studies in Mathematics
Hellenica World - Scientific Library
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