Derive was a computer algebra system, developed as a successor to muMATH by the Soft Warehouse in Honolulu, Hawaii, now owned by Texas Instruments. Derive was implemented in muLISP, also by Soft Warehouse. The first release was in 1988. It was discontinued on June 29, 2007 in favor of TI-Nspire. The last and final version is Derive 6.1 for MS-Windows.
Since Derive required comparably little memory, it was suitable for use on older and smaller machines. It was available only for Windows and DOS platforms and was used also in TI pocket calculators.
- Derive Basics
- The Derive 6 software is installed on the lab PCs. There is an online lab manual available on the math dept website for learning to use the software. In particular, Chapter 0 of the lab manual explains the basic usage techniques. (Note: You need to have the Adobe PDF reader installed on your system. Click the icon below if you need to install this plugin.)
- Online Derive Demo (click to view)
-
You can view and download videos from the math department website.
These videos show how to get started using Derive 6.
You will need a Windows PC with sound capabilities
and you will need to install some video software in order to view the videos.
After installing the video component software you can use the links below to listen to the videos.
The videos are available on a CD in Keller 419.
Opening Derive for Windows
Entering Algebraic Expressions and Constants
Functions
Basic Graphing
Substituting
Using `Solve'
Differentiating and Integrating
Limits
More about Graphing
The Vector Function
Iterates, applied to non-overlapping generations
Matrix Operations
Inserting Text Objects, Families of Tangent Lines
Euler's Method, Foxes and Hares - Utility Functions:
- We use a special collection of interesting new functions for the lab. They are contained in a Derive utility file. Click on Utilities for a discussion and examples of their use. If you use Derive at home you can download the required files ADD-UTIL.DFW and ADD-UTIL.MTH at the bottom of that page.
-
Purchasing Derive 6:
-
The software is not required for our classes
but it is an excellent software package. Unfortunately, it is no longer sold by Texas Instruments.
It should be possible to obtain a copy online from Amazon.com or other
supplier.
Note: If you have your own version of Derive you will need to copy the utility functions on to your computer. See above.