Scilab

Scilab is multi-platform, open source software that offers functionality similar to MATLAB, including user contributed add-ins for statistics and data analysis. The software is well used in secondary and university locations for teaching  and practicing engineering and mathematics  An extensive help menu is available with the software. There are many third party tutorials available from science and engineering departments across the world. For example:

• http://user.physics.unc.edu/~sheila/scilabtutorial.html
• http://hkumath.hku.hk/~nkt/Scilab/IntroToScilab.html
• http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~cs626-449/scilab.pdf 
• http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee/materials/dip/labs/introtoscilab.pdf
• http://usingscilab.blogspot.com/

I have found the product surprisingly well-featured and mature and easy to learn.  There appears to be a substantial technical community committed to Scilab. In addition, I find the semantics and syntax of  Scilab form a gentle and well-featured introduction to command line computing for upper and high school students.



Questions and Activities for Students

• Install Scilab on your home computer.
• Walk through at least one of the tutorials listed above. 
• Do you find Scilab easier or more difficult to use than a spreadsheet for mathematical computation?
• What advantages do you think command line scripts have over spreadsheet cell based programming?
• Why would do you think scientists and engineers would use Scilab or MATLAB instead of a spreadsheet?