Balanced approach. While the content is similar to other one-semester undergraduate texts on the subject, the organization and presentation of the material revolves around computer activities.
Prelabs. Each chapter contains introductory material for students to read on their own. They include short exercises to be done by hand to help prepare students for the in-class lab work.
Software. "Research Questions" direct students to generate numerical data that leads to the formulation of conjectures. Students then find proofs for their conjectures and write up their results in a formal lab report using a computer algebra system.
Chapter summaries. After reports are turned in, students receive a summary from the instructor that provides model answers for the research questions, including additional topics not covered in the interactive materials. The chapter summaries are included with the Instructor’s Manual.
Homework sets. Exercises consist of computational problems and problems requiring proofs. Many are of the "prove or disprove" variety to further support the research spirit of the text.