** Using WeBWorK **

To begin downloading files, click on the software download link to the left.

If you want to see what types of problems exist for WeBWorK, you can get a pdf copy of the Rochester WeBWorK Problem Library at http://webhost.math.rochester.edu/downloadwebwork/download/refer/Rochester_problib.pdf . Note that this is a 513 page document containing approximately 3900 problems.

Version 1.9 of WeBWorK contains several enhancements and bug fixes. Many enhancements are internal and will not be apparent to students. The professor page has a new look and several functions there have more versatility and safeguards. There are new answer macros for handling linear algebra problems. The dvipng display mode ("typeset2") has been improved and is now well tested. We recommend that it be set as the default mode. LaTeX2HTML display mode("typeset") is still available but can easily be removed if one desires. Many of the enhancements have been suggested and/or contributed by Davide Cervone, Zig Fiedorowicz, John Jones, and Bill Ziemer. We certainly appreciate their contributions.

Also problems can now be linked. There is a linkToPreviousProblem value in the setdefinition file. It is assumed to be 1 (true) or 0 (false, the default). If 1 this means, for every student, this problem will have the same seed as the previous problem. This means you can have a connected or linked series of problems that share the same "random data." For this to occur the linked problems have to define the same random variables in the same order (it is the responsibility of problem authors to do this). see http://webhost.math.rochester.edu/webworkdocs/docs/courseadmin/setdefinitionformat for details.

Courses running under WeBWorK 1.5 or later will run without change under WeBWorK 1.9.

The templates_X.X_XX-MONTH-XX-XXXX.tar.gz file contains a library approximately 3900 WeBWorK problems (up from 2500 last year) covering pre- calculus, first year calculus, vector calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, and statistics. Note that some problems form older distributions have been renamed and/or moved to other locations in the library. Jun Wang reorganized the collection of Algebra problems and added many algebra problems from various libraries. A group at Rochester wrote over 300 new linear algebra problems together with new linear algebra answer evaluators.

The current version of all problems (and WeBWorK system files if you want to live on the bleeding edge) can be obtained by connecting to http://webhost.math.rochester.edu/webworkdocs/ , clicking on software download and then on "Experimental CVS for WeBWorK." The Rochester problem library is under the CVS Root UR Problem Library and the system files are under UR WeBWorK System. In addition at this site you can find problem libraries from Cal State Long Beach (CSLB), Detroit County Day School (DCDS), Dartmouth, Indiana, Ohio State, Stony Brook, and Union College. If you have written WeBWorK problems and are are willing to share them, please contact us and we will add your problems to the repository.

If you are interested in using WeBWorK, but are not ready to install it at your institution, we can host small (say under 100 student) WeBWorK courses at Rochester. This will give people the opportunity to use WeBWorK without the necessity of installing WeBWorK. If you are interested in this, please contact Mike Gage (gage@math.rochester.edu) or Arnie Pizer apizer@math.rochester.edu).

The will be sessions on WeBWorK both this summer at MathFest in Boulder and at the annual AMS/MAA meeting in Phoenix in January. If you are attending, stop by and say hello.

Now finally the information that some of you really want:

In order to download version 1.9 of WeBWorK, connect to

http://webhost.math.rochester.edu/webworkdocs/

Click on download WeBWorK, register if you haven't already, and then click on Download Files.

Arnie Pizer and Mike Gage
Posted by Arnold K. Pizer on 7/24/03; 3:20:47 PM
from the dept.