This is the 5th in the draft purge series where I’m throwing stuff out over a three week period.
One month after starting MathFour.com, I came across an article about GeoGebra. I was quite taken by the software, but a little overwhelmed.
I’m not much into technology – at least when it comes to math. So the power of the tool was much more inhibiting for me than it was empowering.
So the review of it stalled.
Indeed this article was first “drafted” back in March of 2011 – more than a year ago. It only had the link to that article in it. Not much of a draft.
Lucky for us, math is math. It doesn’t change much over a year (or even a few hundred years).
So GeoGebra is pretty much as useful (and as scary) as it was a year ago.
But like all good heros, leaders and people stupid enough to think they might be either, I’m diving in. Regardless of my fear.
First: Get out the users’ manual.
So I found the GeoGebra Quickstart guide and started reading. I downloaded GeoGebra and cranked it up.
The Quickstart has three examples to try. The first one is un-intimidating – merely involving a triangle and a circle.
So I did it.
And I can share it, too!
Turns out you can “share” your work on GeoGebra – those guys are pretty clever, I must say!
Click here to see my first ever attempt at GeoGebra goodies. Notice I named my triangle vertices and the center of the circle with real names – fun!
The Circle Triangle Dance
Following the directions, I learned about the Move Tool. Which means you can move just about anything – the whole triangle, the circle or any of the vertices!
Check out the “dance” I did with my circle and triangle:
I’m looking forward to playing some more. But I still have my concerns.
I’ll share those tomorrow. For now, I’m just going to enjoy the tool!
How about you?
Have you played with GeoGebra? Will you? How do you use it? Tell us in the comments.
Don’t forget to tweet it out, too!
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