Efofex News

Efofex Parameters have been available to users for a few months now. Some users are doing absolutely amazing things with them including one user who is creating documents that can provide both Greek and English versions of the same questions. We have been constantly adding new capabilities as we experiment with parameters. For example, we recently added a feature which will write the value of a parameter in English text (so it turns “31” into “thirty one”) so numbers can be included directly in the text of your questions.

Users have been using FX Library to see some of the things that are possible but we have started to hear people ask “This all looks great, how do I start?” To address this, we have published a new video where we look at turning an existing test question, written in Word, into a fully parametized question.

If you are interested in creating at MultiDocs, take a look at the new video!

Creating Your First Parametized Question

We have recently improved access to our Help resources by restructuring the Help menu in our products. We have provided a little more information but, more importantly, have made the existing information much more accessible. Take a look after your next update.

The built-in calculator provides a large proportion of the capabilities of Efofex Parameters. The ability to type:

{3 sin 20}

and have the expression automatically calculated is crucial to most parametized questions.

Recently we improved the capabilities of the built-in calculator in two major ways.

Improved Exact Value Calculations

The calculator can now produce exact values for expressions like {$x^5} if $x is already an exact value like 2/3.

Combinations and Permutations

The calculator can now calculate expressions involving combinations and permutations like {5C2} and {7P3}

If you are using Efofex Parameters, you are almost certainly using the range command.

$y=range(1, 20, 0.5)

This command will produce a random value, between 1 and 20, going up in 0.5, every time you regenerate parameters. The values that are produced might, for example, go 5.5, 7, 12, 18.5, 20, 4, 1.5… The range command is one of the main ways of adding variation to your questions.

The new sequence command works in almost exactly the same way.

$y=sequence(1, 20, 0.5)

This command will produce a value from exactly the same set of values as the previous range command. The only difference is that the numbers will be generated sequentially every time you regenerate. They values might be 17.5, 18, 18.5, 19, 19.5, 20, 0.5, 1, 1.5…

We have found this to be useful for some questions and wanted to make the facility available for everyone.

Being based in Western Australia in a COVID affected world has greatly limited the amount of professional development training we have been able to offer. We are currently working on developing Zoom and Microsoft Teams based training to address this shortfall.

To complete our development, we would like to offer some free, one hour training sessions so we can polish our processes. The free sessions are limited to Australian schools (to minimize time zone issues) and will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

So if you need to fill a training slot in the next few weeks, contact us to see if you can access some free training. The slots will fill quickly so don’t delay.

Grouped data graphs (histograms, frequency polygons and cumulative frequency graphs) now have the option of placing the class centres in the axes. This is particularly useful for NSW teachers who seem to prefer this option.

You can turn on class centre scales in the options for the affected graph types.

Long term users of our products will know that we previously had a version of this mode of graphing (it was called Use Alternative Axes). The new system is massively improved and allows you to combine cumulative frequency curves with other graphs.

We have just uploaded a number of new FX Library MultiDocs including a nice little right angle trigonometry investigation.

Measuring Heights & Depths Investigation

https://efofexonlinestorage.blob.core.windows.net/library/FX202103101027.docx

This investigation looks at calculating the heights and depths of inaccessible objects.

The validation section of the investigation has been parametized to allow multiple versions to be produced.

FX Library MultiDocs provide you with prewritten materials that you can use as-is or you can use the MultiDocs features to generate new versions at will. They also provide exemplars on how to create your own MultiDocs. We recommend that you keep an eye on FX Library by pushing the Library button on our new Word toolbar.

The latest version of FX Draw adds three new tools that allow you to create diagrams like this.

The three new tools are:

• A circular dial – in the circle tools.
• An arc dial – in the arc tools.
• Dial hands – in the line tools.

The dials are highly customizable – just right click.

This feature was the direct suggestion of one of our users. Thanks Christine!

The latest versions of our graphing products (FX Draw, FX Graph and FX Stat) now include more formats for scales.

Existing Styles

Our graphing products have always been able to mark axes in terms of pi.

You also can (automatically) use degrees.

New Styles

Currency, fixed decimals, percentages and scientific notation are now all possible.

Controlling The New Options

You can select the new scale types on the Scales tab.

We recently uploaded some new probability questions to FX Library, and the development of one of them is indicative of the power of Efofex Parameters.

It all started when we developed a simple tree diagram question about different coloured socks in a box. It is exactly the standard sort of question that is perfect for MultiDocs as a push of a button produces one of the 400 available variations.

You can find this document in FX Library or through this direct link.

Something Interesting

A basic rule of developing MultiDocs is “Regenerate, Regenerate, Regenerate”. Regenerating quickly shows up flaws in the question design and is a crucial tool to developing these questions. As we regenerated this question, we noticed something unexpected – the answers were much more likely to be one side of 0.5 than the other. We have often found this while developing MultiDocs – the process of designing questions that can self modify can lead to a much deeper understanding of the topics.

In this case, that deeper understanding lead to the development of an interesting investigative activity which starts like this.

There is actually quite a lot of mathematics going on behind this with a few interesting results!

You can find this activity in FX Library or using this direct link. As with all FX Library materials, subscribers can use the documents in their teaching with almost no copyright concerns.

FX Library is a growing library of materials that you can use directly in your teaching or as a source of exemplars for your own questions.

Visit FX Library