University/Organization
Department of Mathematics
Presbyterian College
Clinton, South Carolina

Title
Designing High Impact Curricular Practices Utilizing Makerspaces

Synopsis
When we teach power series, students are taught how to find the power series’ interval of convergence and some ways on how to estimate how many terms are needed to calculate a value, at certain degree of accuracy. What is almost always overlooked is that numerical calculations are not done with infinite precision. Algorithms will be developed for calculating the exponential, logarithmic, and Bessel (first kind, of integer order) functions. Infinite series representations, properties, and identities of each of the functions are incorporated in the algorithms, resulting in robust, versatile, and accurate calculations. The Bessel algorithm will use a unique application to the Taylor’s Series, centered at a non-zero center, and is applicable for complex arguments.

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