The Education Vector

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 17

The Education Vector¶

January 1989

Edited by Alan Sykes

Reprinted from VECTOR Vol.5 No.3. VECTOR is the Quarterly Journal of the British APL Association; for more information about the British APL Association, contact the Secretary: Graham Parkhouse, Dept. of Mech. Eng., University of Surrey, GUILDFORD.

Contents¶

Dr Alan Sykes,
Dept of Management Science and Statistics,
University College of Swansea,
Singleton Park, SWANSEA SA2 8PP

Editorial¶

by Alan Sykes

Prior to the writing of this editorial, there has been no time for feedback from the first issue of Education Vector in its new form, so in the faint hope that I got it about right the first time round, this second issue is very much in the same mould.

Last year the British APL Association supported two APL-enthusiastic educationalists John Durran and Neil Bibby to attend the Sixth International Congress on Mathematical Education held in Budapest. Neil's report on their experiences there makes interesting reading. (I wonder whether my attempts at writing APL appear elitist!)

Neil mentions in his letter the need to talk about and demonstrate APL at the annual teachers' conferences in Britain. I hope to do just that this Easter by speaking at the Mathematical Association's 1989 conference to be held in Sheffield. This conference (which I helped to organise when it was at Swansea some six years ago) attracts some 300 of our (mainly) secondary school teachers from all over Britain, and I look forward to the opportunity of demonstrating live, some of the delights of using APL in Mathematics and Statistics. Also in my native South Yorkshire, Richard Webber has contacted us to say that he is prepared and keen to offer courses for teachers in APL in the locality. Perhaps as a result of my visit and talk, enough interest will be generated locally to make such a course viable.

Recently, the British APL Association has been asked to consider funding a project to construct an APL Statistics library. Preparatory work has commenced with the planning of a conference for academic statisticians in Britain, a growing number of whom use APL for teaching and research. I hope that the Royal Statistical Society will see fit to give its support to this venture and I look forward to an interesting interchange of ideas on programming statistical algorithms in APL.

Let me finish this second editorial by extending an invitation to you, the reader, to share your thoughts on APL and education (in its widest sense) with me and other readers by contributing to future issues. Please send all contributions to my address at the University College of Swansea (see front cover).

And finally (!) may I draw your attention to APL Puzzle Corner where I invite relative newcomers to APL to try to solve a simple problem using APL. Whatever your solution (it does not, I repeat NOT have to be a one-liner!) please send your solution direct to me. There is a £5 book-token prize for the most worthy solution received within four weeks of publication. Please indicate briefly in your submission the extent of your experience of APL to date.