A software design process to facilitate the teaching of mathematics

Despite the existence of a large range of software to support the teaching of mathematics, most mathematical educational software makes only limited use of the potential user interfaces. In particular, students are typically restricted in how they can express their working and solutions. This paper looks at the issue of how to design mathematical educational software to help students solve problems in a natural unrestricted manner. The focus is on describing, through a case study, a process for designing software that mirrors the pencil and paper way students traditionally solve mathematical problems.