Maple and Prolog Laboratory Manuals for Experimental Learning

The following two manuals contain programming experiments that are designed to reinforce the learning of discrete mathematics, logic, and computability. The experiments are organized to accompany the material in Discrete Structures, Logic, and Computability, Second Edition. The manuals are the outgrowth of the experimental portion of a one-year course in discrete structures, logic, and computability for sophomores at Portland State University. Most of the experiments are short and to the point, just like traditional homework problems, so that they reflect the daily classroom work.

The tools used for experimentation are Maple and Prolog. These languages are easy to learn and use. So the learning curve is steep and no prior knowledge of the languages is assumed. In fact, the experiments are designed to introduce language features as tools to help explore the problems being studied.

The manuals reinforce the traditional laboratory experience of experimentation, observation, and conclusion. Each experiment contains an informal description, with examples as necessary, and presents a list of actions to perform. Some actions are simple, like using a program to check answers to hand calculations, and some actions are more sophisticated, like checking whether a definition works, or constructing a small program to explore a concept.

The instant feedback provided by these interactive programming environments can help the process of learning. When students get immediate feedback to indicate success or failure, there is a powerful incentive to try and get the right solution. This encourages students to ask questions like, "What happens if I do this?" This supports the idea that exploration and experimentation are keys to learning.

Also available: Important errata for the second edition of Discrete Structures, Logic, and Computability

These files provided as Adobe PDF files. You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this format. If you do not have this software, you can go to the Adobe web site and download a copy for free.

The Maple manual contains experiments for the first five chapters of the book.

     Click to view/download: Maple_Lab_Manual.pdf     (137 Kbytes)

Depending on your browser configuration, clicking on these links above may attempt to open the PDF files in a browser window. To download to your computer rather than viewing in your browser, either right-click (Windows) or click-and-hold (Mac) on the links above. Then select "Save Target as..." or "Save Link as..." from the popup menu that appears. Choose a location on your computer to which to save the file, and hit OK or Save. You can then find the file on your computer using the Finder or Explorer and open the file up in the Acrobat Reader program.