Is using Wolfram Alpha for maths homework a sin?

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YoungIreland

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I’ve a homework assignment due in 2 weeks and I am just curious. I am finding it a bit difficult to understand. (Wolfram Alpha is a computational tool).
 
What tools are you allowed to use or not use according to your instructor? Have you asked him or her?

An anonymous forum is not a substitute for YOUR responsibility to ask for clarification from your instructor.

Then you will have your answer. If it is no and you use the program it is cheating.

Is cheating a sin?
 
YoungIreland said:
I’ve a homework assignment due in 2 weeks and I am just curious. I am finding it a bit difficult to understand. (Wolfram Alpha is a computational tool).
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I would say not if you use it as a guide. I feel no qualms about using the online solution manual for one of my classes because it walks me through the problem, and I still learn (and that class doesn’t collect homework, but that’s a different story). Anyway, I have used the answers in the back of the book to help guide my work so I know where to work toward.

In any case, feel free to PM me questions. I love math and can probably help 🤓
 
coachdennis said:
What tools are you allowed to use or not use according to your instructor? Have you asked him or her?

An anonymous forum is not a substitute for YOUR responsibility to ask for clarification from your instructor.

Then you will have your answer. If it is no and you use the program it is cheating.

Is cheating a sin?
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He didn’t say. No need to get aggressive. I was only asking a question.
 
Mathematics means knowledge. As someone who has worked in college as a learning assistant, the one thing I can tell you is this: you need to understand what is going on. Yes, you may be rather successful by learning the algorithm for the solution (ex. for problem a use formulas x and y) but you will become “knowledgeable” only if you understand what’s going on. This means that, of course while maintaining the highest academic integrity, you should seek understanding by asking questions to the instructor and to your peers, finding out from the professor the solution to the problems you don’t know how to do, and use wisely the tools that will allow you to reach the understanding of the problem.

And for goodness sake, learn to love math, for it is the language in which God chose to write the universe 😉 If not by feeling, do it by an act of will, and you will greatly benefit (even spiritually, as you get to see some of the most wonderful expressions of God’s wisdom).

Btw, as for your question: if he didn’t place any limitations, then you should be ok. However sometimes the professor has reasonable assumptions, ex. he may not explicitly say that you cannot find and write down the solution from the solutions manual, but that does not mean you are allowed to do so 😃 It would be praiseworthy to email him or ask him directly about the tool, mentioning that you are trying to not just solve the problem, but understand it.
 
YoungIreland said:
He didn’t say. No need to get aggressive. I was only asking a question.
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And i was providing an answer that you need to get clarification from your instructor.

When you say, he didn’t say, are you saying he did not mention that program specifically, or did not say anything about using outside resources or said do not use any outside resources.

I did not consider myself to be aggressive. I am being honest. For your information, I am a college professor and have also worked as an academic advisor and in a college chaplaincy office. If you were to come into my office as an advisor or in the campus ministry office and ask me the same question I would advise you to speak to your instructor directly.
 
coachdennis said:
And i was providing an answer that you need to get clarification from your instructor.

When you say, he didn’t say, are you saying he did not mention that program specifically, or did not say anything about using outside resources or said do not use any outside resources.

I did not consider myself to be aggressive. I am being honest. For your information, I am a college professor and have also worked as an academic advisor and in a college chaplaincy office. If you were to come into my office as an advisor or in the campus ministry office and ask me the same question I would advise you to speak to your instructor directly.
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That is ok. It did come across that way though. To answer your question: No, he didn’t mention anything about using outside resources at all. What he did say though was that we could work together, but we would have to reference it if we did.
 
I don’t know the tool so I can’t answer that part of the question

Using external resources to the programme to help you achieve something isn’t a sin. (Unless of course the programme guidelines specifically say you must stick to the information that you are given in class) That is using your initiative to find another way of helping you learn something. There is nothing wrong in that. Your teacher may have not been clear for you. It happens. It don’t mean the teacher is poor at that area. Just that you haven’t necessarily understood it in the way it was presented. A good teacher will be pleased that you didn’t let that stop you but found your own way of getting to grips with something whether its in the Curriculum or not. You showed intiative. If you are unsure then check it out with your teacher before handing the work it 🙂

If you are simply copying it 'wholly or part of it and passing it off as your own then that would be cheating and that is a sin.

By the way, I hope you do well in the maths assignment.
xxx
peace
 
What, you’re asking if cheating on homework is a sin? I would say it’s a sin to a lesser degree because you’re going to turn in your homework claiming you did it yourself; which is a lie.

However, if you don’t understand it, I would seek tutoring. Your grade will end up suffering in the end if you have a test later on and you don’t understand what you did.
 
No

It is simply a tool to help you understand the math, basically a tutor and it helps to play with the numbers like what if I added 5 here or multiplied by 5 here etc.

The teacher I am willing to assume did not say “You cannot use WolframAlpha.” or something to a similiar effect; if they didn’t you are fine.

The only time using WolframAlpha is a sin is when you do this

[wolframalpha.com/(name removed by moderator)ut/?i=sin](http://www.wolframalpha.com/(name removed by moderator)ut/?i=sin)
 
So in general, it is OK to use it to understand how to do a sum but not to copy it down straight. Is that accurate or am I a bit off?
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This is the perfect question to ask your instructor!

All you have to do is repeat the same exact question to him, and then you can be certain.
Asking someone that has no idea about the grading policies and requirements of the instructor can’t replace the sound counsel of the one who is actually instructing you.

Besides, this is a good habit to develop: If you don’t understand something about class, go and ask your instructor for clarification.
 
YoungIreland said:
That is ok. It did come across that way though. To answer your question: No, he didn’t mention anything about using outside resources at all. What he did say though was that we could work together, but we would have to reference it if we did.
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I’d think you’d have to reference using Wolfram Alpha too, just as if you worked together.

Math homework serves two purposes: to study problems and figure out how to work them, so you increase understanding of the principles. Wolfram Alpha may help you there, as long as you don’t let it do all the work.

The second purpose for homework is practice: to apply the principles and learn how to do the work. Remember those elementary school sheets with dozens of addition problems, or multplications or whatever? That was for practice, so the process would become habitual and automatic. Using Wolfram Alpha too much might shortcut the intended practice.
 
Since Mathematica (www.wolframalpha.com) will do the homework problem in its entirety for you showing each step, so that all you need to do is copy them down with no understanding, I would assume you can’t use it if your problem is of a nature that it can simply be typed in to Mathematica, unless your teacher does not grade homework at all or only for that you wrote some junk on a paper and turned it in.

If you are interpreting the problem, setting it up, etc., etc., and then after that it devolves into simple computations that you already know, it may be okay to use it. I’d annotate that solution steps were provided by Mathematica.

You need to ask your teacher if it is an allowable resource, I’d imagine.
 
bmonk said:
I’d think you’d have to reference using Wolfram Alpha too, just as if you worked together.

Math homework serves two purposes: to study problems and figure out how to work them, so you increase understanding of the principles. Wolfram Alpha may help you there, as long as you don’t let it do all the work.

The second purpose for homework is practice: to apply the principles and learn how to do the work. Remember those elementary school sheets with dozens of addition problems, or multplications or whatever? That was for practice, so the process would become habitual and automatic. Using Wolfram Alpha too much might shortcut the intended practice.
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A third purpose for homework is assessment. If you make it look like you understand how to do something, when really you don’t, then your teacher will think you don’t need any more help with it and will move you on to harder work that assumes you can already do the stuff you cheated on.

That’s why it’s important to reference when you used collaboration or an online tool to complete the work.

And if you don’t quite get the work, and you have two weeks to do it in, that allows plenty of time to ask the teacher to explain it!
 
TypesAndShadows said:
A third purpose for homework is assessment. If you make it look like you understand how to do something, when really you don’t, then your teacher will think you don’t need any more help with it and will move you on to harder work that assumes you can already do the stuff you cheated on.

That’s why it’s important to reference when you used collaboration or an online tool to complete the work.

And if you don’t quite get the work, and you have two weeks to do it in, that allows plenty of time to ask the teacher to explain it!
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👍
 
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