axioms

Article
Using Free Mathematical Software in Engineering Classes
Víctor Gayoso Martínez 1,2, *,†,‡ , Luis Hernández Encinas 1,‡ , Agustín Martín Muñoz 1,‡
and Araceli Queiruga Dios 3,‡

1 Institute of Physical and Information Technologies (ITEFI), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC),
28006 Madrid, Spain; [email protected] (L.H.E.); [email protected] (A.M.M.)
2 Engineering Department, Centro Universitario U-tad28290 Las Rozas, Spain
3 Department of Applied Mathematics, Institute of Fundamental Physics and Mathematics,
University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected] or [email protected]
† Current address: C/Serrano, 144, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
‡ All authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: There are many computational applications and engines used in mathematics, with some
of the best-known arguably being Maple, Mathematica, MATLAB, and Mathcad. However, although
they are very complete and powerful, they demand the use of commercial licences, which can be a
problem for some education institutions or in cases where students desire to use the software on an
unlimited number of devices or to access it from several of them simultaneously. In this contribution,
we show how GeoGebra, WolframAlpha, Python, and SageMath can be applied to the teaching
of different mathematical courses in engineering studies, as they are some of the most interesting
representatives of free (and mostly open source) mathematical software. As the best way to show a



topic in mathematics is by providing examples, this article explains how to make calculations for

 some of the main topics associated with Calculus, Algebra, and Coding theories. In addition to this,
Citation: Gayoso Martínez, V.; we provide some results associated with the usage of Mathematica in different graded activities.
Hernández Encinas, L.; Moreover, the comparison between the results from students that use Mathematica and students that
Martín Muñoz, A.; Queiruga-Dios, A. participate in a “traditional” course, solving problems and attending to master classes, is shown.
Using Free Mathematical Software in
Engineering Classes. Axioms 2021, 10, Keywords: coding theory; engineering; GeoGebra; mathematica; Python; SageMath; WolframAlpha
253. https://doi.org/10.3390/
axioms10040253 MSC: 97D10; 97D60; 97U10; 97U50; 97U70

Academic Editor: Hans J. Haubold

Received: 14 July 2021

1. Introduction
Accepted: 28 September 2021
Published: 12 October 2021
The Bologna Accord is an agreement on a common model of higher education reached
in 1999 that implies the creation of a common European area of university studies. It
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promoting students’ mobility, aiming to simplify Europe’s educational qualifications and
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iations. those earned elsewhere [1].
There are 48 countries currently involved in the Bologna Accord. The cornerstones
of such an open space are mutual recognition of degrees and other higher education
qualifications, transparency (readable and comparable degrees organized in a three-cycle
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
structure), and European cooperation in quality assurance.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Due to the Bologna Accord, the teaching of mathematics has suffered important
This article is an open access article
changes, such as the necessity to enhance the traditional teaching–learning process with
distributed under the terms and practical cases, the possibility to introduce some key concepts, and the reinforcement of the
conditions of the Creative Commons learning process by using technology and specific mathematical software [2,3]. Nowadays,
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// there are many computational packages focused on mathematics, with Mathematica and
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ MATLAB being two of the best known [4,5]. However, even though they are certainly very
4.0/). complete and powerful, they require the use of commercial licenses, which can be a problem

Axioms 2021, 10, 253. https://doi.org/10.3390/axioms10040253 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/axioms

Axioms 2021, 10, 253 2 of 18

for some education institutions or in cases where students desire to use the software on an
unlimited number of devices or to access them from several of them simultaneously.
In this paper, our goal is to show how free mathematical software (which most of
the time is also open source software, but not always) can be applied to the teaching of
different engineering courses at the University of Salamanca and Centro Universitario
U-tad, from first-year algebra or calculus to more specialized topics such as coding theory.
The University of Salamanca was founded by King Alfonso IX of León in 1218, which
makes it the oldest Spanish university in existence and one of the oldest in Europe. The uni-
versity offers 81 courses in the first and second cycles spread throughout five branches
of knowledge, including Science and Engineering [6]. U-tad is the acronym for Centro
Universitario de Tecnología y Arte Digital (Technology and Digital Art University Centre),
a private university centre founded in 2011 with a strong focus on the creation, program-
ming, and management of digital content, products, and services [7]. U-tad is based near
Madrid, and it currently offers three higher technical education courses, five undergraduate
degrees and twelve postgraduate courses.
Learning a programming language is highly important for pre-university and univer-
sity students. One of the goals of the Europe 2020 growth strategy [8] is the implantation
of information and communication technologies at all educational levels. In this sense,
Scratch and App Inventor are widely used in Spanish secondary education and high
schools, and Python is also included among the technology tools used in formal education
institutions [9]. However, the number of students that arrive at university with a fair
programming knowledge is still low. In fact, the first contact with a formal programming
language for most engineering students takes place during their first semester. At the
University of Salamanca and U-tad, for example, C is the first programming language that
is taught to students.
In this study, GeoGebra, WolframAlpha, Python, and SageMath have been used for
providing actual examples used in class, as they are good representatives of free mathemat-
ical software. In addition, we have analysed the relationship between the use of these tools
and the final grades obtained by engineering students. We have also included data about a
statistical study of two academic courses in which we proposed the use of Mathematica
(and as an alternative WolframAlpha) as a tool for solving mathematical problems.
The rest of this contribution is organized as follows: Section 2 describes other articles
associated with this topic. Section 3 presents the most relevant information about GeoGebra,
WolframAlpha, Python, and SageMath, while Section 4 provides several examples used at
class. After that, Section 5 provides some statistics associated with the usage of Mathematica
software in some engineering classes. Finally, in Section 6 we offer some conclusions and
ideas for future work.

2. Related Work
There are several publications that analyse the use of mathematical software for
teaching at different levels and from different points of view. For example, Hillmayr et al.
presented a comprehensive analysis about how the use of technology can enhance learning
in secondary school mathematics and science in [10]. They compared learning outcomes of
students using digital tools to those of a control group taught without the use of digital
tools. Their results showed that the use of digital tools had a positive effect on student
learning outcomes and that the use of intelligent tutoring systems or simulations (dynamic
mathematical tools) was significantly more beneficial than hypermedia systems. Moreover,
in [11] a taxonomy of five categories of tool-based mathematics software is considered:
(a) review and practice, (b) general, (c) specific, (d) environment, and (e) communication.
A description of the affordances and constraints of such categories of software is provided,
and how each one facilitates different aspects of student learning is discussed.
Other contributions study the use of different software for teaching mathematics.
Among them, we highlight the following: [12–20]. In comparison to those articles, this
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 3 of 18

contribution focuses on a specific set of open source engines and provides examples used
in actual engineering classes.

3. Computational Engines
Engineering is considered “the application of mathematics and sciences to the building
and design of projects for the use of society” [21]. Moreover, mathematical theory and prac-
tical engineering challenges are linked to computational procedures [22]. Representation of
functions or surfaces, the calculation of the Taylor polynomial for a given function, solving
systems of linear equations or making calculations with matrices are some of the examples
that engineering students need everyday in their studies [23].
There are arguably three possibilities regarding the usage of computational engines:
• Commercial software: MATLAB, Mathematica, Maple, Mathcad, SPSS, etc.
• Free software: GeoGebra, WolframAlpha, SageMath, Maxima, Scilab, Octave, R,
FreeMat, Demetra+, etc.
• Programming languages such as Python or Julia.
Each of these options has its benefits and disadvantages. Applications such as MAT-
LAB or Mathematica are very powerful, but obviously they require commercial licences
and the installation of many software packages that in some cases have to be managed
manually and need to allocate several gigabytes of hard drive space. In addition to this,
those applications sometimes have processor and memory requirements that cannot be
satisfied by all type of students. Even though universities usually provide computing
resources to students, events such as the coronavirus pandemic have shown that students
cannot depend solely on the university infrastructure.
In comparison, the computational capabilities of free software engines are lower in
some instances, but for introductory subjects they may be more than enough. Finally,
programming languages such as Python are very versatile and allow one to perform
symbolic and numeric calculations, but many first-year students are not familiar with
them. Even though it could be argued that first-year students are also unfamiliar with the
syntaxis of mathematical engines, it is true that many computations can be achieved with a
sole command in those mathematical engines, while they would require creating a small
application using a programming language, with the difficulties that that option brings
(importing the proper libraries, formatting the code in a proper way, etc.).
In this paper, we have focused on GeoGebra, WolframAlpha, Python, and SageMath,
not only because they are free to use, but also because as a side effect that freedom allows
us to chose the best option for each topic inside a course, preventing educators from being
tied to a single solution.
Several authors have analysed the benefits and disadvantages of different educational
applications [24–26], and they found that all of them have similar characteristics and are
suitable for classes. Sometimes, the decision on which application to use depends on the
usage of the same software by the teacher in his/her own research activities [27].
It is important to mention other open source applications and libraries of mathematical
software different to those considered in detail in this work, which are included in Table 1.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 4 of 18

Table 1. Additional open source mathematical software applications.

Name Author(s) Web Page (accessed on 31 August 2021) Field

Axiom Axiom Team http://www.axiom-developer.org/ CAS
Cadabra K. Peeters et al. https://cadabra.science/ CAl
CoCoA L. Robbiano http://cocoa.dima.unige.it/ CmA
Demetra+ Eurostat https://github.com/jdemetra/jdemetra-app CDm
Flint W. Hart http://www.flintlib.org/ ODE
FreeMat S. Basu http://freemat.sourceforge.net/ Alg
GAP Araújo et al. https://www.gap-system.org/ DAl
http://home.imf.au.dk/jensen/software/
Gfan A. Jensen AlG
gfan/gfan.html
GiNaC C. Bauer et al. https://www.ginac.de/ AlC
Gnuplot Gnuplot team http://www.gnuplot.info/ 2/3D
Gretl A. Cottrell http://gretl.sourceforge.net/ EcA
LiPS M. Melnick http://lipside.sourceforge.net/ LiP
Mathics B. Jones et al. https://mathics.org/ CAS
Maxima W. Schelter https://maxima.sourceforge.io/ CAS
Macaulay 2 D. Grayson et al. http://www.math.uiuc.edu/Macaulay2/ AlG
MPFR MPFR team https://www.mpfr.org/ FPA
MPIR B. Gladman et al. https://www.mpir.org/ Art
MuPAD-Combinat F. Hivert et al. http://mupad-combinat.sourceforge.net/ CAl
NTL V. Shoup http://www.shoup.net/ntl// NTh
Octave J.B. Rawlings et al. https://www.octave.org SyC
PARI/GP H. Cohen et al. http://pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr/ NTh
R R. Ihaka and R. Gentleman https://www.r-project.org/ CDm
Reduce T. Hearn http://www.reduce-algebra.com/ CAS
Scilab INRIA https://www.scilab.org/ NuC
Xcas B. Parisse http://xcas.sourceforge.net/fr/index.php CAS

3.1. GeoGebra
GeoGebra is an interactive geometry, algebra, statistics, and calculus application
available both as an online resource and a native application in Windows, macOS, and Linux
systems [28].
The GeoGebra website includes several services such as a calculator and a graphics
plotter, but the most widely used option is what is called GeoGebra Classic, which puts
together those individual tools.
Figure 1 shows the GeoGebra Classic interface, where it is possible to find modules
for two- and three-dimensional plotting, an input bar, and the CAS (Computer Algebra
System) module, among others.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 5 of 18

Figure 1. GeoGebra Classic screen.

GeoGebra’s interface is easy to use and allows the configuration of several aspects
associated with function representation, such as line width, colour, and style. These
representations can be integrated into online books that can be shared with students so,
for instance, they can navigate through all the examples and solutions associated with a
certain topic [29].

3.2. WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha is a computational knowledge engine developed by a subsidiary of
Wolfram Research, the company behind Mathematica [30]. Given that WolframAlpha is
a reduced version of the Mathematica software, all options must be entered as text in
the application’s input box. However, the website provides access to many examples, so
students can find the right expression in a relatively short time. Obviously, the advantage
of using WolframAlpha instead of Mathematica is that it can be accessed by anyone as a
web service free of charge.
One of the most interesting aspects of WolframAlpha is the possibility to use both
natural language and Mathematica syntax for computations, so even students with little or
no knowledge of the Mathematica syntax can use the engine without effort.

3.3. Python
Python is an interpreted, high-level, and general-purpose programming language that
emphasizes code readability [31]. Python was first released in 1991, but it was not until
the launch of versions 2.0 and 3.0 in 2000 and 2008, respectively, that Python was really
popularized among programmers. Since 1 January 2020, Python 2 is no longer officially
supported [32], which means that Python 3 is the only version which is active nowadays.
One of the advantages of Python over other programming languages is the number of
modules and extensions that can be used [33]. From an engineering point of view, some
of the most useful are NumPy (which defines types for numerical arrays and matrices
together with the basic operations that can be applied to them) [34], SymPy (a library for
symbolic mathematics) [35], and SciPy (which uses NumPy in order to perform advanced
mathematical, signal processing, optimization, and statistics calculations) [36].

3.4. SageMath
SageMath is a computer algebra system with features covering many aspects of
mathematics, including algebra, combinatorics, graph theory, numerical analysis, number
theory, calculus, and statistics [37].
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 6 of 18

The first version of SageMath was released in 2005 as free and open source software
under the GNU General Public License version 2, with the initial goal of becoming an open
source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB.
Instead of developing another computational engine from scratch, SageMath inte-
grates many already existing open source packages such as NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib,
Sympy, Maxima, and R, among others, using a syntax similar to the one provided by Python.
SageMath can be installed as a stand-alone application or run in the cloud using
CoCalc [38], a web-based cloud computing service (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. CoCalc website.

4. Examples
4.1. Calculus
Many Calculus key concepts can be reinforced or at least better understood by stu-
dents when presented in a graphical way. Allowing students to replicate some model
computations in similar problems has the benefit of providing a durable link between what
is taught in class and what they study at home [39].
Figure 3 shows an example associated with the graphical representation of a function
and its asymptotes. If, for instance, we intend to show how the Taylor polynomials work,
we can include in the same solution the initial function and Taylor polynomials of different
degrees, so students can realize that a higher degree implies a better approximation for
real functions (see Figure 3).
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 7 of 18

Figure 3. GeoGebra example about Taylor polynomials.

Regarding the calculus of several variables, GeoGebra is a suitable option given that it
allows students to rotate three-dimension images in any direction. As an example, Figure 4
shows how to represent the intersection of two surfaces.

Figure 4. Intersection of two surfaces using GeoGebra.

Switching to WolframAlpha, it is possible to perform calculations such as performing

the second derivative of a function and specializing the resulting expression at a point with
a single command.
WolframAlpha can also be very convenient in some instances where, together with
the requested calculation, the engine also provides a graphic representation of the solution,
as in the case of Figure 5.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 8 of 18

Figure 5. Search for function minimum points in WolframAlpha.

Both GeoGebra and WolframAlpha are supported by a large number of developers

who make available their work, so it is possible to access many great online demonstrations
and practical examples. This feature is particularly interesting when teaching theorems
and their applications, as it is a topic where many students face some difficulties. Some
examples are [40,41], where Lagrange’s theorem and the Ingetral Mean Value theorem are
described using WolframAlpha resources.

4.2. Algebra
This section shows how to use Python for solving different algebra problems using
parts of the code developed by Javier García Algarra [42]. In order to correctly execute the
following examples, it must be taken into account that NymPy and SymPy modules must
be imported through the following commands:

import numpy as np
import sympy as sp
from sympy.matrices import Matrix

For convenience, figures included hereafter have been executed as a worksheet in

CoCalc. The first example shows how to represent a polynomial and to obtain its roots (see
Figure 6).
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 9 of 18

Figure 6. Polynomial manipulation.

If we need to solve a system of linear equations, we can use the code displayed in
Figure 7.

Figure 7. Solving a system of equations.

In Python, it is possible to define matrices either directly or through a lambda expres-

sion, which can be useful sometimes (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. Matrix definition.

Once we have defined matrix A, Figure 9 shows how to obtain its determinant, inverse
matrix, and associated eigenvalues in an easy way.

Figure 9. Matrix operations.

Axioms 2021, 10, 253 10 of 18

It is also possible to define and operate matrices with symbolic content, as shown in
Figure 10.

Figure 10. Matrices with symbolic contents.

4.3. Coding Theory

In this section, we will demonstrate how to operate with linear codes using SageMath.
In the first example, we will define a generator matrix with coefficients defined over the
Galois field with three elements, GF(3), as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Generator matrix definition.

Then, we can use G as the generator matrix of a (8, 5) code and request information
such as the length, dimension, mininum distance, and weight distribution of the code,
as shown in Figure 12.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 11 of 18

Figure 12. Information about the code.

Quite conveniently, we can obtain the generator matrix in systematic form as well as
the code’s parity check matrix (see Figure 13).

Figure 13. Systematic generator matrix and parity check matrix.

We are also able to check if a received vector is a proper codeword or not, in which
case its syndrome will be different from the zero vector, as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Checking if a received vector is a codeword.

Axioms 2021, 10, 253 12 of 18

In the case of cyclic codes, in addition to matrices, it is also possible to work with
polynomials, as can be seen in Figure 15.

Figure 15. Defining a cyclic code.

5. Experimental Study
In the experiment performed at the University of Salamanca, two groups of students
were selected. The first group, with 57 students studying for a Chemical Engineering
degree, represented the experimental group, while the control group was made up of
63 students studying for an Industrial Engineering degree. In the experimental group,
students were allowed to use WolframAlpha (or, alternatively, Mathematica, with the same
commands). In both cases, students attended a numerical analysis course with comparable
contents, so conclusions could be obtained from the comparison. The study took into
account the performance of students during the academic years 2018–2019 and 2019–2020.
For the experimental group, three questionnaires, two software exercises in the com-
puter room, and two exams were conducted during the first year associated with this
analysis. In contrast, during the second year, two questionnaires, three software exercises,
and two exams were monitored. Students from the control group did not participate in
software seminars and their only assessment activity was a final written exam at the end of
the semester.
The goal of the statistical study presented in this section is to analyse, firstly, the re-
lation between the different assessment activities and the results obtained when using
mathematical software instead of traditional problem-solving methods and, secondly,
to compare the results with students that did not participate in similar activities.

5.1. Chemical Engineering Degree

The numerical analysis course in the Chemical Engineering degree has 7.5 credits,
and the final mark was calculated over 10 points, where 5% corresponds to questionnaires,
10% to software activities, 15% to team work and solving additional problems, and the
remaining 70% corresponds to the grades associated with the written exams.
As has been mentioned before, for this study, data from two academic years was
collected. In the case of the 2018–2019 course, out of 57 students, seven students that
did not attend the different assessment activities have been discarded. Since the Bologna
Accord was put into effect, the number of drop-out students has reduced and every year a
fewer number of students leave mathematics courses.
Figure 16 shows the box plot representation for the student marks associated with the
different assessment activities, where the stars represent the extreme values.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 13 of 18

Figure 16. Box plot for the assessment activities results in the academic year 2018–2019.

In the case of software practices, Median > Mean, and Kurtosis = 1.468. In the case of
questionnaires and exams, these values are different, as can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the academic year 2018–2019.

Concept Questionnaire Software Exam

N Valid 50 50 50
Missing 0 0 0
Mean 6.0322 3.2210 5.4018
Median 6.4350 7.2000 5.6400
Mode 0.00 a 7.75 5.25
Standard Deviation 2.12767 2.40013 1.73700
Variance 4.527 5.761 3.017
Skewness −1.038 −1.465 −1.465
Standard Error of Skewness 0.337 0.337 0.337
Kurtosis 0.993 1.468 2.723
Standard Error of Kurtosis 0.662 0.662 0.662
Range 9.22 9.00 8.00
Minimum 0.00 0.00 0.00
Maximum 9.22 9.00 8.00
a Multiple modes exist, the smallest value is shown.

Software activity is clearly what suits students the best. Engineering students usually
like to work with their hands, in the laboratory or with computers. Moreover, this activity
is typically accomplished by collaborating with their fellows, which usually is not the case
of exams and to a lesser extent of questionnaires. A consequence of this fact is the absence
of a correlation. The biggest one is between software and questionnaires (the Pearson
correlation coefficient is equal to 0.720).
We conducted an ANOVA to check the relation between the three activities: question-
naires, software and exams. We have found out that the data meet the homogeneity of
variances (the Levene statistic has a significance that is equal to 0.068), they are random
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 14 of 18

samples (the test significance is equal to 0.568), and variables follow a normal distribution
(the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test significance is equal to 0.086).
Table 3 shows the results of the analysis of variance that indicates that the hypothesis of
equal means is accepted, i.e., the means for questionnaires, software, and exams are equal.

Table 3. ANOVA test results for the academic year 2018–2019.

Sum of Mean
Concept df F Significance
Squares Square
Between Groups 18.402 2 9.201 2.075 0.129
Within Groups 651.933 147 4.435
Total 670.336 149

In the 2019–2020 academic year, out of 48 students, eight alumni were discarded as
they did not fully participate in all the assessment activities. The statistical analysis is quite
similar to the one developed for the previous academic year. In this case, the correlation
between activities has been reduced: 0.197 between software and questionnaires. The final
average mark of students is 5.93 compared to 5.43 obtained the previous year.
With the goal to avoid the duplication of information we have included Figure 17,
where histograms and normal curves for the assessment activities during the 2019–2020
course are displayed.

Figure 17. Histogram and normal curve for (a) questionnaires, (b) software, and (c) exams.

5.2. Industrial Engineering

The Industrial Engineering mathematics course has six credits and the final mark,
which corresponds to the final exam, is calculated over 10 points. In this instance, the marks
from 63 students were collected from the 2019–2020 academic year. For the control group,
the final marks obtained in the final exam are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Final results of Industrial Engineering students.

Mark Percentage
Not attending 25.40
Between 0 and 4.99 31.75
Between 5 and 6.99 19.05
Between 7 and 8.99 17.46
Between 9 and 10 6.35

In this case, only 42.86% of students passed the exam, and the qualification’s mean
was 4.74.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 15 of 18

5.3. Analysis of the Results

The analysis derived from the data obtained in the Chemical Engineering courses is
presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Mean and Standard Deviation for questionnaires (Q), Software (S) and Exams (E).

Mean Standard Deviation

Course
Q S E Q S E
2018–2019 6.0322 6.2210 5.4018 2.12767 2.40013 1.73700
2019–2020 5.5441 5.9195 6.5961 2.60838 2.14294 1.32373

The independent samples test was performed in order to obtain the relation between
the grades in different assessment activities grouped by year. As a result, we found
out that the same variance appears in both courses (the Levene’s test for equality of
variances coefficient is equal to 0.709) and the t-test for the equality of means returns
the 95% confidence interval of the difference equal to (−1.83377, −0.55491) assuming
equal variances and to (−1.82308, 0.56559) when equal variances are not assumed, with a
significance value of 0.00 in both cases.
Compared to the data obtained from Industrial Engineering students, it can be seen
that the mean is lower than the mean for Chemical Engineering students. This could be
interpreted as an indication that, when mathematical software is used at class, students
improve their understanding of the contents and obtain better results compared to students
that are being taught in the traditional way.

6. Conclusions
In this contribution, we have shown how to use some of the best-known free com-
putational packages in order to enhance the learning process for mathematical courses in
engineering studies. The usage of engines such as the ones implemented by GeoGebra,
WolframAlpha, Python or SageMath allows students to grasp the key concepts seen in class
and to practice problems at their leisure, resulting in better learning outcomes and grades.
Using free software has the additional benefit of allowing educators to choose the
best option for each topic inside a course, as they are not tied to a specific product that
can be optimal for some subjects but inadequate in some other instances. Some of the
examples shown throughout this article could even be used in high schools and academies,
which are two institutions less likely to commit themselves to investments in things such
as mathematical software licences.
An observation made by the authors of this paper during the elaboration of the
research is that first-year students are less inclined to use a programming language than a
computational engine in order to solve engineering problems, even if they were previously
familiar with the programming language in question. Some reasons for this are that
students (incorrectly) do not try to interrelate the knowledge obtained in different subjects
and that they prefer to use a command instead of coding a small application to obtain
fast results. Another conclusion is that students prefer not to install applications if they
can obtain the same results by connecting to a remote service providing online compilers
or calculators.
Additionally, an analysis of the results obtained when using mathematical software to
an engineering mathematics course is included. This analysis allows one to derive some
conclusions about the application of mathematical software to different activities such as
questionnaires, problems to be solved, and exams. In our study, students that participated
in a course that allowed the completion of some activities with the help of mathematical
software obtained better marks than students that attended to a more “traditional” course,
composed of master classes and problem solving sessions. In general, we believe that
students are able to achieve a better understanding of the contents of mathematical subjects
if they are allowed to use computational engines, which benefits both students and teachers.
Axioms 2021, 10, 253 16 of 18

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, methodology, validation, investigation, and writing—

review and editing, V.G.M., L.H.E., A.M.M. and A.Q.D.; software and writing—original draft, V.G.M.
and A.Q.D.; funding acquisition, L.H.E. and A.Q.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published
version of the manuscript.
Funding: This work was supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) of the Ministry of
Science and Innovation (MCIN), project P2QProMeTe (PID2020-112586RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/5011
00011033), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF, EU).
Institutional Review Board Statement: Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due
to the anonimity of the grades used in the study.
Informed Consent Statement: Student consent was waived due to the anonimity of the grades used
in the study.
Data Availability Statement: Data supporting results can be obtained by request from the authors.
Acknowledgments: Víctor Gayoso Martínez would like to thank CSIC Project CASP2/201850E114
for its support. Araceli Queiruga Dios would like to thank Universidad de Salamanca for its support.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:

2D/3D 2D/3D plotting

AgC Algebraic combinatorics
AlC Algebraic computations
AlG Algebraic geometry
Alg Algebra
ArG Arithmetic geometry
Art Arithmetic
CAl Computational algebra
CAS Computer Algebra System
CDm Distributed computation
CmA Commutative Algebra
CSIC Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
DAl Discrete algebra
EAHE European Area of Higher Education
EcA Econometric analysis
FPA Floating-Point Arithmetic
InF Integer factorization
ITEFI Instituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de la Información
LiP Linear programming
MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
NTh Number theory
NuC Numerical computation
ODE Ordinary Differential Equation
SAl Symbolic algebra
SyC Symbolic computation

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