Loci: Resources

MathDL Flash Forum

by Douglas Ensley, Barbara Kaskosz

What's New?

Clicking on a link or a thumbnail in the gallery below will either open a new window for you to try out the corresponding applet or take you directly to the full posting within the Flash Forum.

The article Flash Tools for Developers: 3D Graphers in ActionScript 3 describes classes for 3D graphing revised for Flash CS3. Along with class files and documentation, we provide several templates to show how to use the classes for graphs of functions of two variables as well as parametrically defined surfaces. Click the picture on the right to go to the Development article.
	The new version of Adobe Flash (CS3) comes includes a new version of the scripting language (ActionScript 3.0).  The material for the June 2007 Flash at the Beach workshop (through the MAA PREP program) consisted entirely of ActionScript 3.0 Tutorials  in Flash CS3. Click the picture on the right to see the ActionScript 3.0 tutorial material from the workshop.
The first MathDL Flash Forum Development article to use ActionScript 3.0 reprises the ealier Basic Function Grapher and Parametric Curves articles. Templates along with complete instructions for modifying them can be found in the Flash Forum article  Flash Tools for Developers (AS3): Graphing curves in the plane. Click the picture on the right to go to the Development article.
	The Flash Forum "Sharing Area" article Visualizing Regions for Double Integrals  presents a valuable tool for students learning about double integrals in multivariable calculus.  Any valid limits of integration (in rectangular or polar coordinates) can be entered and this Flash applet will show the planar region over which the integration will take place. This applet uses the classes from the MathDL Flash Forum article "Flash Tools for Developers: Parametric Curves on the Plane." Click on the picture on the left for more on using this applet or downloading the Flash source code.

Purpose of the Flash Forum

Educators interested in developing interactive, web-based learning materials have an exciting, powerful tool in Adobe Flash. Flash comes with the full-fledged, object-oriented programming language ActionScript, which makes it possible to create sophisticated applets – self-contained units running within the user's browser – as well as programs that communicate with and use applications on a server.  Such applets and applications are delivered to the audience through the ubiquitous, light-weight, and reliable Flash Player which runs Flash files in any browser and on any platform. The ubiquity and the consistent performance of the Flash Player as well as other features make Flash an attractive solution to needs for online delivery of interactive material.  

The MathDL Flash Forum will provide sample material, source code, and instructions for customizing Flash-based mathematics teaching material. The goal of the FlashForum is to use this shared material along with related discussion threads to build a community of developers and users of Flash. This project is supported by NSF DUE-0535327 and the Mathematical Sciences Digital Library, a project of the Mathematical Association of America.

Development Articles

Development articles are solicited on the use of Flash technology for any topic related to mathematics teaching and learning. See the page on "Contributing to the MathDL Flash Forum" for more information on how to get involved. Note that there is an abundance of information online for general help with Macromedia Flash.  We particularly recommend Macromedia's  Flash Developer Center  as a starting point for learning the basics of Flash.

Flash CS3 / ActionScript 3.0

• Flash Tools for Developers: 3D Graphers in ActionScript 3, by Barbara Kaskosz and Doug Ensley. (Posted August 19, 2007)

  This Flash Forum article describes classes for 3D graphing revised for AS 3. Along with class files and documentation, we provide several templates to show how to use the classes for graphs of functions of two variables as well as parametrically defined surfaces.

• Flash Tools for Developers (AS3): Graphing Curves in the Plane, by Barbara Kaskosz and Doug Ensley. (Posted July 2, 2007)

  This Flash Forum article includes source code and modification instructions that will allow you to customize a basic one-variable function grapher and an applet that graphs parametric curves on the plane in either rectangular or polar coordinates. It has been revised for Actionscript 3 and Flash CS3.

Flash 8 / ActionScript 2.0

• Flash Tools for Developers: Matching Formulas to Data  by Doug Ensley and Barbara Kaskosz. (Posted October 20, 2006)

This Flash Forum article includes source code and instructions for building an applet that allows the user to enter expressions with up to four parameters and then to vary the parameters in order to fit the curve to user data.

• Flash Tools for Developers: Truth Tables and Logic  by Doug Ensley and Barbara Kaskosz. (Posted July 19, 2006)

This Flash Forum article includes source code and instructions for building a truth table applet and other applications requiring parsing and evaluation of logical expressions.

• Flash Tools for Developers: 3D Function Grapher, by Doug Ensley and Barbara Kaskosz. (Posted May 15, 2006)

This Flash Forum article includes source code and modification instructions that will allow you to customize an applet that graphs surfaces in space.

• Flash Tools for Developers: Parametric Curves on the Plane, by Doug Ensley and Barbara Kaskosz. (Posted February 21, 2006)

  This Flash Forum article includes source code and modification instructions that will allow you to customize an applet that graphs parametric curves on the plane in either rectangular or polar coordinates.

  Flash Tools for Developers: Function Grapher (the inaugural Flash Forum article), by Doug Ensley and Barbara Kaskosz. (Posted December 19, 2005)

This Flash Forum article includes source code and modification instructions that will allow you to customize a basic one-variable function grapher.

Sharing Area

This part of the Flash Forum consists of examples of Flash programming for math and science teaching with documentation including shared source code.  New submissions and creative variations on these materials are welcome. 

Just submit your material as a URL to Doug Ensley, DCR Editor and indicate that you are willing to share your source code.

• Terminator. Bruce Yoshiwara, Los Angeles Pierce College. Download the Flash 8 source code within this zipped folder. You may need to right-click on the link to save the file before you can open it.
• Visualizing Regions for Double Integrals. Barbara Kaskosz and Lewis Pakula, University of Rhode Island. Download the Flash 8 source code within this zipped folder. You may need to right-click on the link to save the file before you can open it.
• Projectile Motion Simulation. C. Jay Hutchings and Nadina Duran-Hutchings, Texas A & M University - Corpus Christi. Download the Flash MX source (.fla) file here. You may need to right-click on the link to save the file before you can open it.

Contributing to the MathDL Flash Forum

The MathDL Flash Forum is an NSF funded project that is supported by MathDL.  If you are an expert in Flash, other technology development, or in educational pedagogy, there are some valuable contributions that you can make to the Flash Forum. 

1. Try some of this material out yourself and post comments to the discussion forum for that particular item. You can download a 30 day trial copy of the latest Flash authoring program for this purpose as you simultaneously try out the material on the Flash Forum.
2. Read the comments posted by others and respond if you have the relevant expertise in applet development, Flash programming, or classroom pedagogy.
3. Submit your own well-documented source code to Doug Ensley, MathDL DCR Editor (deensley@ship.edu). This will be reviewed by knowledgeable Flash developers for eventual posting in the Forum.

About the Forum Moderators

The moderators of the MathDL Flash Forum are Barbara Kaskosz (bkaskosz@math.uri.edu) of the University of Rhode Island and Doug Ensley (deensl@ship.edu ) of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.  Each of these individuals welcomes e-mail comments, questions or suggestions about this site or about Flash development, in general.

Biographical Information

Barbara Kaskosz is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Rhode Island.  Her work with Flash is focused on using visualization to understand concepts in calculus, and it can be found at http://www.math.uri.edu/~bkaskosz/flashmo/.

Doug Ensley is Professor of Mathematics at Shippensburg University. His work with Flash is focused on Discrete Mathematics, and it can be found at http://webspace.ship.edu/deensley/DiscreteMath/, the companion site to his Discrete Mathematics textbook coauthored with J. Winston Crawley and published by John Wiley & Sons.