The ALMMF, or Adaptive Learning Module for Mathematical Functions, is a concept that emerged from the idea of trying to combine the intensely practical orientation of classical handbooks of mathematics such as [1,2] with the pedagogical potential of the Internet, which opens the door to exciting new ways of helping people acquire useful mathematical knowledge. The concept is influenced also by encyclopedias and surveys such as [3].
The ALMMF project leaders plan to invite comments and advice on the ALMMF concept from teachers, university professors, and other interested individuals, and to write a detailed prospectus for the design and implementation of an ALMMF. However, before embarking on this task, we felt that a search should be made to determine whether Web sites, CD-ROM's, software packages, or other kinds of interactive resources could be found that provide capabilities similar to what we envision for the ALMMF. This report summarizes our findings.
The next section, §2, introduces the ALMMF and notes its connection to a related project, now in progress at NIST, to construct a Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. In §3 we describe our methodology for gathering relevant data, and we catalog the resources found. In §4 we examine a few of the resources that are most similar to the envisioned ALMMF. Finally, §5 presents our summary and conclusions.