AMTRAN: implications of an interactive mathematical computer system for an educational institution

The advent of computing in a remote-terminal time-sharing context permits the user to interact more directly with the computer in attacking his problem. Moreover, certain standard problems of numerical analysis (e.g., least-squares approximations, locating zeroes of functions, etc.) arise in science and engineering with sufficient frequency to suggest, in view of remote-terminal capability, the development of interactive computer systems to aid in the application of mathematical analysis. Such a system is AMTRAN (for Automatic Mathematical TRANslation), being developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center under the direction of Dr. Robert N. Seitz[1].