Abstract: "With the cost of popular graphing calculators in excess of $100 and software license fees for high-end software often even higher, there is as much potential for student savings by adopting free and open source software alternatives as there is with adoption of open source textbooks. It is now possible to do anything a graphing calculator can do (and much more) using free software, and in many fields, knowledge of the relevant software alternatives has more long term value for students than intimate knowledge of the buttons and menus of a particular calculator. Several free programs now rival even the dominant commercial software options like Maple, Mathematica, MATLAB, or SPSS.
High quality free software options exist across the spectrum from basic quantitative and statistical literacy through calculus, linear algebra, and beyond. This poster will provide a survey of several free software options for the mathematics classroom and relevant open source materials available to support implementation, and will also highlight current limitations and needs for additional resources."