http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Fri, 24 May 2013 04:26:22 PDT Fri, 24 May 2013 04:26:22 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=604391 Python Multimodal eBook Version of A Survey of Computational PhysicsRubin H Landau, Oregon State University;Manuel J Paez, University of Antioquia andCristian C Bordeianu, University of Bucharest;with Video Production by Sally Haerer Paper (Java)published by Princeton University Press, 2008What is this?A pdf file containing the complete Python version of the printed text A Survey of Computational Physics. The eText contains various links, encapsulations and executeable elements incorporated into a pdf format that is readable on a variety of common pdf readers. The created eText is meant to explore what is possible now with existing technologies and what might be a viable commercial model . The project combines 16 years of development in Computational Physics Web-based enhancements and 20 years of textbook developments as well as specially developed video-based lecture modules. The reader need only download this single pdf file since the linked codes listings, video lectures, slides, applets, sounds and animations are on the Oregon State University Science server. (Chapter One describes the software needed and how to use the various links.) Most linked files open in the browser or media player that is associated with the specific file type on your operating system. The linked Python code listing can be copied from the browser and pasted into VIDLE for execution (copying pdf text may not conserve its formatting). The pdf file also has internal links to sections, figures, internal code listings, equations, and glossary entries. These links are used in the references, citations, table of contents and index. You can jump back and forth between these internal links without leaving your pdf reader. Of particular note is the eTextBook's links to some 60 video-based lecture modules specifically created for most every topic in the text. Even though the totality of these modules occupy over 14 GB on the Web server, individual lectures can be streamed and viewed over a modest connection. (The complete collection will be available from the publisher.) The modules contain a video picture-in-picture of a professor presenting a lecture or demonstration in his office, along with active slides coordinated with the lecture, a dynamic table of contents, and links to codes, applets and slides. The extensive set of studio-produced lectures makes the text particularly useful for a blended or online course where the instructor can use some or all of the text's lectures or slides, or even insert his or her own materials within the text and lectures. Other versions of the modules and of the entire text appropriate for mobile devices have been created, and will be available from the publisher.The text is linked to the extensive applet collection that the authors have developed over the years. In order to explore executeable mathematics, many of the text's equations are linked to corresponding MathML versions which can be ported over to and executed with symbolic manipulation programs such as Maple or Mathematica. There are also links to animations that run in a stand-alone mode or in a browser, as well as movies actually encapsulated into the pdf file. In a similar vein, several figures in the text are executeable Concept Maps that link to expanded versions of the maps in which each map element is linked to related pages within the text (a graphical alternative to a traditional table of contents). About the Subject MatterThe text overlaps the lower-division A First Course in Scientific Computing (Landau) to provide economical, computational science/physics materials at all levels of undergraduate curriculum. The text is designed for a one- or two-semester undergraduate or beginning graduate course.