Efofex News

We have released FX Equation 5.005.4.

The main improvement in this version is a greatly improved handling of vertically aligned equations.

Previous releases of FX Equation 5 have struggled with aligning equations when there is a mixture of text and equations on a line. For the past six months we have been recommending that, if you wanted to align equations, you did not include any text sections.

V5.005.4 removes this limitation.

The new aligner follows the following rules

1. Any line which STARTS with an equation will have equals signs vertically aligned.
2. Text AFTER an equation will not affect alignment
3. When two equations are separated by text, only the first equation is vertically aligned.
4. Lines which START with text will not take part in the alignment

This seems to be the most intuitive way to handle vertical alignment and is certainly far superior to what earlier versions have been producing.

We have just uploaded the very first FX Draw 6 Beta for both Windows and Mac!

You can download the betas using these links.

FX Draw 6 introduces a number of new features.

• 3D Graphing (the same tool that is included in FX Graph 6)
• 3D Objects
• Dimensions

as well as a host of other improvements and additions.

3D Graphing

Use the function graphing tool but use the new 3D features already discussed in the FX Graph 6 Beta.

3D Objects

Use the new 3D Object tool.

Dimensions

Make sure that you take a look at the What’s New document in the Help menu. All the new features have also been fully documented in the manual.

Note: The Windows version will NOT take over internal links to FX Draw objects in Word documents. You will continue to use FX Draw 5 to edit those documents. You will need to test FX Draw 6 as a stand alone program on Windows machines.

Last Saturday, I was presenting at a conference and a participant asked if FX Graph/FX Draw could restrict the domain of a function BUT show the end points as arrows. In other words, could it show this

instead of this.

The participant knew how to restrict domains using bracket notation but was getting output such as this

At the time, the answer was “No” but I could see her point. The first graph is much better at showing that a standard graph has been moved around the plane. Drawing the full curve over the plane makes the magenta parabola look bigger than the red one (even thought they are the same) simply because more of the curve has been drawn.

So We Fixed It!
The good news is that today, just four days later, we have added the feature to FX Graph 6 and FX Draw 6! We are ALWAYS happy to listen to ideas!

To use the new feature, you write a bracket domain but use braces to indicate that an arrowhead should be used instead of an open or closed circle. In other words, type something like

x2 {-2,2}

You can also mix and match, having arrowheads on one end and an open or closed circle on the other. eg x2 [-2,4}

Note that this new feature will only be available on the new FX Draw 6 and FX Graph 6.

We recently received a most uplifting email from a young man who has been using our products for no charge under our EmPower program. We are sharing it, partly because we are very proud of the program, but mostly to remind you that the EmPower program exists and has already helped thousands of students with special needs.

“If there was any word I could use to best describe Efofex’s programs and their impact upon my future, it would be lifesaving. Growing up as a student suffering from Dysgraphia (a handwriting disorder), writing, and math in particular, was an extreme challenge for me, and I had to make every available effort to write legibly. Unfortunately, writing legibly cost me so much of my concentration that I would often lose focus, stumble on the question, and get it wrong. Alternatively, I would get the correct answer but, in the struggle to finish the test, I would misinterpret the numbers or signs of my answer. A negative would be positive, a 4 turned into a 9, etc. The situation got so bad that in my Sophomore year I was happy to receive a C- in Algebra II. This low grade, although fine by district standards to advance to the next level, was not satisfactory for neither my parents or I, so I needed to repeat Algebra II the next year. This time around, however, I had new accommodations in place that would potentially help my academic success.

I started using Efofex’s software at the beginning of the next school year. The ease of installation, the seamless compatibility with my word processor, and the ability to paste directly into documents were all blessings for me and my school work. This made the transition from pencil and paper to computer extremely easy and problem-free. I felt as though FX Equation which, unlike several other programs, did not have the capacity to calculate answers for a student, was perfect for my needs. Instead of solving the questions for me, it provided a canvas by which I could show my true mathematical potential. This helped tremendously, especially once I learned the keyboard shortcuts and intricacies of the program. FX Graph, in the same vein as FX Equation, allowed me to plot complex graphs simply without the hassle of using a physical graphing calculator.

As a result of both FX Equation and FX Graph, my abilities in math, previously trampled because of my writing deficiencies, blossomed. In my senior year I achieved a 99% in Precalculus both semesters by using Efofex products and, without it, I don’t think I would’ve graduated high school with as good of grades. I also used both programs on my ACT exam, where, because of me being able to write with them, I managed to achieve a 31 on the overall test. Without Efofex products, I would not be attending a four year university this fall.”
Zachary

Is there anyone at your school who would benefit from the program?

It recently came to our attention that the weekly digest of news stories has not been automatically generated for some time. This means that if you are only subscribed to our newsletter (as opposed to having liked our FaceBook page) you will not have received any news for a few months. Sorry! We have re-enabled the automatic digest and you might have quite a few stories to catch up on – not least the imminent release of FX Graph 6 with it’s 3D capabilities and the beta release of FX Draw 6, also with 3D capabilities!

If you have been affected by this, please accept our apologies. We will work hard to make sure that it does not occur again.

We have uploaded a new version of the FX Graph 6 Beta. This beta will run until October 31.
This beta is a “Release Candidate” which means that we have finished development and consider the product nearly ready for release.

There have been a number of very important changes with this version.

1. We have implemented support for annotations in 3D graphs. The automatic annotations are fairly limited but you can add information to your graphic.

2. We have implemented OLE support. This version of FX Graph 6 will take over any FX Graph 5 links in your Word documents and will upgrade the graphics to V6 when you open them. This is a one way process. In other words, the graphics cannot be reverted back to FX Graph 5 once converted. If you push the FX Graph button on your Word toolbar, FX Graph 6 will open.

We have just about finished initial development of FX Draw 6 and you will be able to download a beta soon!

FX Draw 6 is an exciting extension of FX Draw’s capabilities allowing you, for the first time, to work in 3D.

What’s New?

· FX Draw 6 will include the 3D graphing engine that we have implemented for FX Graph 6. This lets you graph relationships in 3 dimensions and provide graphic demonstrations of things like volumes of solids of revolution and intersections of planes. You might notice that the planes are slightly transparent, allowing your students to get a better idea of what is going on.

· FX Draw 6 will also add galleries of 3D objects that can be rotated and shaded exactly as you desire. The objects can also display hidden edges as shown below.

FX Draw 6 will come with galleries of dozens (hundreds?) of 3D objects.

· We have also implemented a dimensioning tool. This allows you to quickly add dimensions to any image.

The dimensions are all scaled using a global scaling factor. In the above example, we have changed the global scaling from 1:1 to 1:5 and all dimensions have been scaled accordingly. You can also replaced the measured distance with any text. This combination of features makes drawing scale diagrams trivial.

· FX Draw 6 also implements a “4 point” line tool that permits you to draw diagrams where lines extend beyond the points which define their direction.

Notice that the selected line has four control squares. A and B define the direction of the line. C and D define the end points.

· We have also greatly improved the default line system allowing you to create lines that use the current defaults whilst using any of the six line tools, rather than just the line defined by end points.

· Obviously we have also worked to remove faults and improve the usability of tools.

Most importantly, we have made almost no changes to the user interface of FX Draw 5. We know that teachers are extremely time poor and do not want to learn a new interface, so we have continued to leave things alone. Using FX Draw 6 feels almost exactly the same as using FX Draw 5, you can just do more!

Keep and eye out for the beta!

We have uploaded a new version of the FX Graph 6 Beta. This beta will run until October 31.

Initial responses to FX Graph 6 have been positive with few errors found. We will soon be moving FX Graph to release status and this is your last chance to have a say!

Don’t forget the great new features like volumes of solids of revolution. The ability to animate the creation of the volume is most useful.

Volumes of Rotation

Just don’t forget to tell us about anything you find. Send your feedback to info

We have been asked why you cannot rotate the 3D axes in FX Graph 6 using the mouse. We did experiment with mouse-rotation but found, as we have found with all other 3D graphing implementation, that the result was very difficult to control. When we moved the mouse “something” happened, but not necessarily what we intended. We also decided to let you use the mouse to translate the axes around the page. This conflicted with the use of the mouse to rotate the axes.

What we decided on was:

1. The mouse will translate the axes.
2. The mouse wheel (if fitted) will zoom into and out from the origin.
3. You can rotate the axes using the x, y and z keys. Holding down Shift reverses the rotation.
4. You can use the toolbar to align the axes and start auto-rotations.

As with every thing else, we are interested in your feedback on this. Send feedback to info