Education

If you have to edit mathematical equations for homework, papers, or web pages, MathCast may the program for you. It is a freeware, standards-based equation editor that supports popular word processors as well as XML in web pages.

Here are some of MathCast's features from the MathCast web site:

* Works with popular word processors such as MS Word and OpenOffice.org Writer, allowing you to integrate mathematics into written documents of any type: equation sheets, lab reports, study guides, and so on. You can also use the equations in posters and presentations.

Windows Calculator is a joke -- who wants to use the on-screen version of a $5 dollar calculator. Most replacements are far more powerful but kind the "lots of buttons" calculator interface. SpeQ break the calculator-look mode. It looks more like a text editor that lets you enter calculations -- and even say your work. SpeQ can be used by anyone for simple math problems but it is powerful enough to be useful to engineers and scientists.

Here's a feature list from the SpeQ website:

* Enter mathematical expressions in a sheet
* Operators:

I probably would have killed for a program like this when I was in high school and college. Of course, computers filled rooms back then and I didn't have one.

From the ScholarCite web site:

ScholarCite is a free program that helps you write standards compliant literature references. ScholarCite is very intuitive. Simply fill out some fields, and press "Write". The ScholarCite auto-generator then creates a  bibliography entry for your works cited list.

Ebooks have never really caught on with most readers as ebook reader gadgets are expensive and ebooks generally are not cheap enough compared to paperbacks to make up the difference. There are also several non-compatible forms of ebook file, which generally require separate ebook reader gadgets.

Nevertheless, free ebooks in Microsoft's ebook format (.lit) have become somewhat common on the web. If you do not mind reading them on your computer, Microsoft has made a free ebook reader program, Microsoft Reader, available.

Google leaves programs in "beta" long after most companies would have released a "release" version. In the case of the Google Earth beta, Google is just released its 4th major release and the program is still considered "beta." In case you are one of the rare people who has never heard of Google Earth, this program allows you to view Earth from space and then get very close to just about anywhere on the planet via satellite images. It's a lot of fun to play with and even has real world uses.

The following posts were made in the old Thingamablog version of this blog, the read more links will take you directly to them.