Programmable Tool Buttons

There are nine programmable tool buttons on a toolbar displayed at the bottom right of the Main menu.

Most of these toolbar files are provided to make the Converge Labs easier to use for the students.

The last two programmable tool buttons on the right (for all the programmable toolbars that come with Converge) are always the same.  The buttons are:

  which is used to capture any subrectangle of the screen into the Windows clipboard, and

  which is used to clear all of Converge’s windows (except the Main menu window and the windows used to display global functions and variables).

Capturing ANY Subrectangle of the Screen to the Clipboard
This feature is accessible in Converge in many ways, including the Main menu button  (just described).  In the Professional version, you can also save any screen subrectangle to a graphics file.

Configuring Converge for Use with Word

It is now extremely convenient to use Converge with Word.  To configure Converge for use with Word, select Options from the Options menu and click on the Microsoft Word tab. You then see the following.

After you configure Converge to work with Word, graphics and tables of values can be inserted into Word with just one click.  To do this you can click on the  button in various places in Converge.

For example, when you click on  at the bottom of the Graph window, the Equation and Graph windows will both be immediately inserted into Word so that in Word you will see:

(You can also make context menu selections to transfer only the Graph window or only the Equation window to Word.)

 appears on the Matrix Calculator (whose interface has been otherwise improved).

When you click on  in the Matrix Calculator, the highlighted part of the calculator (or its entire contents if no part is highlighted) will be transferred to Word.  If you were to highlight the matrix A in the above Matrix Calculator and click , you would then see the following in Word.

  also appears on the Screen Files Menu, whose interface has also been improved.   For example, the  button enables you to grab any screen rectangle directly into the Screen Files window.

 When you click on  in the Screen Files Menu, its contents will be transferred to Word.

If you right-click on the Table window, you can select Insert Rows into Word with Grid.  With this selection, the table in the above graphic would be transferred to Word so that it appears in a Word table (with the “grid” style) and with headers.  It would appear in Word exactly as follows.

(If some rows of the table were highlighted when you made this selection, then only the highlighted rows would appear in the Word table.  You can also select to transfer the table rows with the grid.)

ReDoing Menu Choices

You can easily go back and redo previous menu choices with the same function(s), graphing environment, global variables, and other important environment variables. The total environment for the last eight menu choices (that change the Equation, Graph, and/or Table windows) is saved and can be quickly restored so you can redo any of these menu choices exactly as before.

At the bottom left of the Main menu window is a drop-down list followed by 3 buttons that are used to redo menu choices.

If you click  to display the list, you can see the last eight menu choices you selected.  In this example, the most recent menu choice was Overlay graphs one by one and the next most recent choice was Approach a Definite Integral with Riemann Sums.

To redo a menu choice in this list, first click on the menu choice.  Next click on one of the three buttons .  

The first two of these buttons () will restore Converge to the same state it was when you previously selected the menu choice.

If you click  you will return to the point that occurred just after you entered the function(s) and the rest of the graphing environment (if any).  In case the menu choice involves a graph, you will return to the same graph you saw previously with this menu choice so you can then proceed (if you want) as you did before.

Clicking  gives the same result as  except that the previous function(s) for the menu choice will be displayed in the Equation Input dialog box so you can edit or change them before continuing with the menu choice.

Clicking  does not restore the state of Converge.  (It does not restore the graphing environment variables or any other variables.)  This button merely allows you to remake a previous menu choice without having to navigate the Converge menu system.

"Approaching Limits of Functions Graphically" Menu Choice Completely Revised

The Calculus Menu selection Approach a Limit Graphically, which enables you to simultaneously observe the graphical and numerical convergence for the limit of a function, has been completely revised.  After you select Approach a Limit Graphically, you see the following dialog box.

The check boxes in this dialog box give you new flexibility to display the convergence graphically.   After you click OK in this box, you see the following graph along with the message “Try to visualize a horizontal line whose height is the limit from the left”

If the Draw line seqments from graph to axes and Mark X-values in advance & pause check boxes were turned on and you click 1 More nine times, you will see:

Eventually you will see the horizontal line you were asked to visualize:

If only the Mark X-values in advance & pause check box was turned on and you click 1 More nine times, the last two graphics would instead be:

and

Also, for example, while the user is clicking 1 More and X is approaching 2 from the left, none of the X-values in the table are allowed to be equal to 2.  After X gets as close as possible to 2, the 1 More box disappears and the following box appears.  The user can then use this box to apply the function to any value of X.

    

"Approaching Limits of Functions Numerically" Menu Choice Completely Revised

The Calculus Menu selection Approach a Limit Numerically has been completely revised.  After you select Approach a Limit Numerically and you enter the function, you see the following dialog box.

You next see the following dialog box which is used to generate a table of values.

At any time, the user is allowed to enter any number for X that is less than 2, and then click 1 More to start a new sequence of X values that approaches 2 from the left. 

The user can also make up and enter his or her own sequence of X values that approach 2 from the left.  

However, the user is never permitted to enter any values of X that are greater than 2.  Also, while the user is clicking 1 More to generate a sequence of numbers that approach 2 from the left, all of these numbers will always be less than 2.

"Overlay Graphs One by One" Menu Choice Revised

 The Overlay Graphs dialog box now has a Do auto changes check box option that causes the following extension of this dialog box.

After you select one of the eight types of auto changes, you can enter a value for c, and click Change F to change the equation.  Then you can click OK to overlay the graph of the new equation over top of the original graph. 

You may use this procedure to continue to change the current equation and then graph, or you can click Restart to restart this process with just the original equation and its graph. You are allowed up to 16 graphs with this menu choice.

Graph with the F1, F2, . . .  F16 Global Functions

The Graph menu choice Graph with F1…F16 Globals enables you to graph with the first N of these global functions (where 1N16) with complete control of the color and line style and thickness of each graph. This menu choice also enables you to assign values to the eight global constants  A, B, C, D, I, J, K, and L.  With the Graph with F1…F16 Globals menu choice, you see the Graph with F1…F16 Globals dialog box.   (This box is the result of requesting to graph seven functions.)

The result of graphing with these seven functions is:

(It can be educational to view the graphing of these functions with  and  depressed.  A file cos-arccos.ggf is installed with Converge 8.0 to enable you to do this.)

The definitions of these global functions, the color, line style, and graph thickness for each function, the values of these global constants, together with the values of all the other variables in the graphing environment (Max and Min X and Y, Number of Points, whether to do Asymptote checking, how to provide for any vertical graph jumps, and so on) can be saved in one file by selecting Save “Graph with F1…F16 Globals” File from the File menu.

As with all global functions each global function may be contained in the definition of any other global function.  The only restriction is that the definitions of the global functions may not be circular.  For example, Converge will not allow you to define F1(x) = 3F2(x) and at the same time to define F2(x) = 4F1(x) + 1.

The Student Labs

The Student Labs have been substantially rewritten.  160 new exercises and problems have been added to the lab discussions and the post-lab problem sets.  There are now a total of 432 exercises and problems in the labs.  Microsoft Word documents containing detailed solutions (including graphs and tables) for all lab exercises and problems are provided with Network and Professional versions of Converge purchased by academic institutions.  Sample student lab assignment handouts (in the form of Word documents) are also distributed with all Converge versions.   These documents are provided so that instructors can edit them as they wish and then distribute copies to their students.

The labs are now accessable via one Converge Menu choice and are in a new format. You can click Help Topics to toggle the Contents window on and off (so it disappears and reappears).



(For a complete list of all lab topics see Labs in Converge.)

The labs are also much more convenient for the Students to do.  At the beginning of each Lab, the student is now asked to select Setup Converge for the Lab… from the Options menu and then select the title of the lab they are about to do.  This menu selection causes the default function files directory for Converge to be changed to the special folder that contains only the function files required by this lab.  The lab setup menu choice will also change the toggle options to settings required by the lab, and load the special nine button toolbar used by the lab.

For students who use Microsoft Word to show their computer work, it is extremely easy to transfer their lab work product into Word using the  button.

 A Converge Labs toolbar is also provided with all versions of the software.  This toolbar, which also makes it easier for students to do the labs using Word, is displayed as:

The buttons work as follows:

The Equation Editor component of Word must be installed for some of the buttons on this toolbar to work properly.  For example, if you install this toolbar and you click the  button and you do not see the Equation Editor or you get an error message from Word, then the Equation Editor has not been installed into Word.  If you reinstall Word in order to add the Equation Editor component to Word, you will find the Equation Editor option listed under “Office Tools”.

To install the Converge Labs toolbar into Word , you must first configure Converge for use with Word.  After you do this configuration, you can select Options from the Options menu, click on the Microsoft Word tab, click on Insert/Remove “Converge Labs” Toolbar into/from Word, then click on Insert the Converge Labs toolbar into Word. 

(Later, if you want to restore Word to its previous state, you can do this by repeating this last procedure except for the final step, and then click Remove the Converge Labs toolbar from Word.)

Transferring Functions to the Expression Calculator

The Main menu button  can be used to transfer the current function of X to the Expression Calculator.  This can be useful if you are in the middle of executing a menu choice and you want to do some calculations on the side involving the function you are working with. 

For example, you may be watching the numerical and graphical convergence involved in the definition of derivative and you want to verify how Converge calculated a difference quotient it just displayed.

Another reason to use the Expression Calculator on the side might be that you want a calculation result with more accuracy than is displayed in some menu choice.  (Most menu choices calculate with seven significant digits accuracy, while the Expression Calculator calculates with 15 significant digits accuracy.)

New Global Functions and Constants

F1, F2, …. F16 are new global functions and I, J, K, and L are new global constants.

The Global Functions F1(X), F2(X), …. F16(X) can be defined by selecting Define F1 to F16 Global Functions from the Options Menu or by selecting Graph with F1…F16 Globals from the Graph Menu.

You can now define and use up to twenty global functions and eight global constants in Converge.  From the Options menu you can select to save or load all global constants and functions in one file.    From this menu you can also select to display the global constants and functions.

New Toggle Options

(To turn the toggle options on and off, you can select Options from the Options Menu and then click on the Toggle Options tab. )

Don’t stop 1^st graph of funct of 1 var when Stop Graphs at First point is turned on

When the Stop Graphs at First point toggle option is turned on and Don’t Stop 1st graph of funct of 1 var when Stop Graphs at First point is turned on is also turned on, the the first two dimensional graph will not be stopped.  It will be drawn and all remaining graphs will be stopped at their first points.  You can use the button  to toggle this option on and off.

Pre-version 8.0 zoom into subrectangle style
When this toggle option is turned on and you select to zoom into a subrectangle of the graph (you can click  to do this), the process for defining zooming will be the same as for versions 7.0 and before.

Suppress Small Hash Marks

When the x- and y-axes are drawn for two dimensional graphs, the default is to draw both large and small hash marks.  The numbers on the axes are displayed at the large hash marks and the small hash marks are drawn half-way between the large hash marks.  When Suppress Small Hash Marks is turned on, the small hash marks are not displayed.

Write files to transfer functions between Converge & Derive in C:\CVGDFW
This option was written for managers of student computer labs on whose computers the Student Version of Converge is installed (under a Student Computer Lab Site License with JEMware).

The Converge folder is the default folder where the temporary files supporting function transfers between Converge and Derive are written.   Such managers generally want to protect the folder where Converge is installed so that files cannot be written to this folder.  When Write files to transfer functions between Converge & Derive in C:\CVGDFW is turned on, these temporary files are instead written to C:\CVGDFW. 

New Main Menu Tool Buttons

 The new toggle option buttons are as follows.

  toggles Represents points with small dots on and off.

  toggles Display table when 2-dimensional graph is frozen on and off.

  toggles Don’t Stop 1st graph of funct of 1 var when Stop Graphs at First point is turned on on and off. 

Defining a Subrectangle of the Screen

The procedure for determining a subrectangle of the screen to zoom into, save in a file, or send to the Windows clipboard is now simpler and more intuitive.  (If you wish to continue using the previous procedure for zooming into a subrectangle, you may do so via a new toggle option.)    This new procedure is:

1.   Move the intersection of the cross-lines to one corner of the rectangle.  (If you are saving the rectangle to a file or inserting it into the clipboard, this corner may be any point on the screen.  If you are zooming into a subrectangle of the graph, this point must be in the Graph window.)
2.   Hold down the left mouse button, move the mouse, and then release this button.           

NOTE: To escape at any time, press the Escape (Esc) key.  (You may put any subrectangle of the screen into the Windows clipboard, and you may save any subrectangle of the screen in a graphics file.)

Connecting the Dots

A new choice, Connect the Dots has been added to the Fit Curves to Data dialog box.

Connect the Dots sorts the paired data in order of increasing X-values, then connects the dots from left to right.

In the Post Fit Options box, you can select Toggle dots to toggle the dots on and off.

Connect the Dots gives you an alternative to graphing paired data with a spreadsheet program.  For example, you can copy the paired data from Excel to the clipboard, paste the data into the Converge table (via the Table context menu) that is displayed with the Paired Data box, then go to the Fit Curves to Data box to connect the dots.

Reconfiguring the Graph window Save Button

The Graph window save button, , can be reconfigured by right-clicking on the Graph window, selecting Save, and then selecting Reconfigure Save Button to.  You can reconfigure this button to any of the following:

     Save the graph to a file (the factory default).
     Save any screen subrectangle to a file.
     Save the graph via Paint.
     Paste any screen subrectangle into Paint.
     Paste the graph into Paint.
     Paste the graph into Paint and unselect the graph image in Paint.

The last three of these selections are new menu choices accessable by right-clicking on the Graph window.  You can use these last three selections to give you more flexibility in overlaying graphs and graphics.  Before you overlay, you should first turn off Draw Opaque in Paint so that Draw Opaque does not have a check mark in the Image menu.  You can do this by selecting Image, then Draw Opaque.  

You can use this capability to overlay the equation over top of available space on the graph. 

Although it would generally be much easier to overlay graphs by selecting Overlay Any Type of Graph from the Post graph menu, so long as you don’t change the size of the Graph window or the Min & Max X & Y values, you can use the last of the above reconfigure option selections to overlay different graphs on the same axes.   A example of when you might want to do this could involve curve fitting, where you might want to superimpose two paired data sets and the curves that fit them on the same axes.

New Graphics File Formats

You can save graphics to files in the following new formats:

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format.  This is a highly compressed format that is used (in web pages) as a substitute for the GIF format.