---------- Math Sampler ---------- Version 1.10 Program and documentation copyright John M. Gallant, 1993-94 WELCOME TO MATH SAMPLER . . . Here are a few additional topics to supplement the instructions contained in the program. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of Math Sampler must accept this disclaimer of warranty: Math Sampler is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Math Sampler. Liability is limited to refund or replacement. BACKUP YOUR DISK! Make a backup copy of Math Sampler before starting. If you have a two floppy drive system, place the disk with Math Sampler and all its files on it into drive a. Place a new formatted disk into drive b and type copy a:*.* b: All commands are ended by pressing the key. If drives a and b are not the same on your system and the Math Sampler disk only fits in the b drive then just reverse the above instructions. Put the original disk in a safe place and use the copy to run Math Sampler. To copy Math Sampler to a hard drive, make a directory on the hard drive. Go to the hard drive and type md msamp or any other directory name. Change to that directory with cd msamp and copy all of the files on the original disk to the hard disk with the command copy a:*.* (or "copy b:*.*" if the disk containing Math Sampler is in drive b). RUNNING Math Sampler To start Math Sampler, go to the drive and directory containing the program and type "ms1 ". You may optionally start the program in the silent mode with "ms1 -s". Once inside the program at the main menu, press h or F1 for more instructions. Each menu has its own help message. Be sure to read them all. USING THE MOUSE You will need a mouse to run Math Sampler. If you have used a mouse before then you will have no trouble with Math Sampler. If you have never used a mouse before then you are in for some fun. (We will assume you have a two-button Microsoft compatible mouse.) Move the mouse around and watch the little arrow go the same way you push the mouse. Move the arrow over one of the things that looks like a button or keyboard key. Press the left mouse button when the arrow is on a button on the screen. This is called "clicking on an option." Either mouse button may be used. The things on the screen that look like buttons are buttons, click on them to select options or to answer questions. In general, each screen or popup message has a button in the upper left corner to exit the screen or remove the popup. Many popups can be cleared by pressing any key on the keyboard or clicking the mouse anywhere. Some popups present you with options and you will need to press one of a few specific keys on that popup to continue. Some options can be selected by typing the first letter of the name on the key. Unfortunately, sometimes two names will start with the same letter so it is usually easier to use the mouse. You MUST use the mouse to answer the problems. MAIN MENU The first screen (after the credits and copyright notice) is the main menu. It looks like a piece of cross-stitch needlework. The "keys" are cross-stitched rectangles. The one marked "help" is important. Push it and read what it says. Most screens have a "help" button. Each message is different and applies to the current screen. You cannot answer the problems on the main menu screen. They are just there to identify what the game for that key does. For example, the key with "2+3=?" is for the addition game. You may also type a number from one to six to start the games. Other keys may do nothing or may display a help message explaining how to start the game or other related function. For example 'q' will ask if you want to quit the game. All of the setup is controlled from the main menu. Press one of the keys 's', 'm', or 'f' to make the action slow, medium, or fast. Press one of the keys 'e', 'm', or 'h' to make the questions easy, medium, or hard. The bell is the sound key. Try it. GAMES Although each game offers something different, they all have elements in common. For example, they all use a mouse to press keys or pickup and move objects. The screens are arranged so that the "game" part is on the right side and the problem part is on the left side. There is usually a scoreboard to keep track on the number of questions answered so far. Usually, when a problem is answered incorrectly, a small window will pop up to show the error. If the problem is missed a second time, the correct answer is displayed. Five of the games consist of sets of problems to be answered. If the student scores at least 80% correct, a trophy or ribbon is awarded as follows: 100% Gold trophy 95% Silver trophy 90% Gold medal 85% Silver medal 80% Bronze medal Trophies earned are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Trophies are not saved when you exit the program. Prizes are awarded but scores are not displayed at the easy level. All of the games have similar control panels in the upper left corner. On these control panels are at least a red "quit" key to return you to the main menu and a light blue "help" key to give instructions on how to play the game. We have tried hard to make the games simple and similar. This allows the student to spend his or her time solving problems and playing the game instead of learning the instructions. We spent a lot of time testing these games on children (of all ages). We tried to make them so that, with a little experimentation, the student could easily figure out how to play the game even without reading the instructions. But, since we went through the trouble of writing the help instructions, we would like you to read them anyway. They are all brief. In the games where the student must catch a number, addition and multiplication, the cursor is sticky when it is on the left side of the screen. That means the numbers will stick to the cursor. Catch one of the numbers by moving the cursor to a number. Once the number sticks, move the number and cursor to the right side of the screen. Unless you are pressing a mouse key, the number will fall off and move to a small blue rectangle. That is where it is supposed to go. If the wrong number sticks to the cursor, press and release the mouse button to drop it. If a wrong number gets into the answer box, catch the correct number and drop it over the old one. You can also drag a number out of the box. Place the cursor over the number. Press the mouse button and (with the button still down) drag the number back to the right side of the screen. Release the mouse button and the number should return to play. This is called "drag and drop." Use this method to remove extra fish from the small tank. Drag-and-drop the numbers in the subtraction game to solve the problem. Counting (the key with a 2 and two fish) This game teaches counting. The student is asked to catch a given number of fish in the big tank and bring them to the small tank. (See the instructions above for how to use the mouse to catch and move objects.) Use the 's', 'm', or 'f' keys in the main menu to make the fish move slow, medium, or fast. Use the 'e', 'm', or 'h' keys in the main menu to change the maximum number of objects to count. At the easy level, only five questions are asked per set and the maximum number of fish to count is five. Addition (the key with 2+3=?) The first addition game teaches single-digit addition (to 10) with sets of counting object and simple written instructions. If the student cannot read these instructions, go through the game once or twice with the student and read the instructions aloud. At the easy level, the problems are presented horizontally and the maximum sum is five. At the medium level, sums are done vertically and horizontally and the sums are up to ten. The hard level does not use the counting objects. Subtraction (the key with 5-4=?) Multidigit subtraction problems are presented with this game. The left side of the screen has a multidigit subtraction problem. The right side has a set of cages set into bricks. Steel doors close over the numbers in the cage when the cursor comes near them. The student must look at the problem, decide which numbers will be needed to solve the problem, and try to get the numbers out of the cages before the door closes. This will take a little practice but it is fun. If the doors are a problem then go to the main menu and select the 's' key. This will stop all the doors. The student should solve the problem one column at a time, from ones column to tens, and so on. This is a more natural method than is used in almost all other math games. The boxes above the problem are for regrouping (borrowing). They do not need to have numbers in them to get the problem correct. They are only there as an aid. For example, if you want to borrow one from the six in the tens column, catch a five and place it in the box above the six. The computer will strike through the six and place a small one near the upper number in the ones column. Remove the five and the computer will put everything back. When a problem is answered incorrectly, the computer will change the color of the box containing the error from blue to red. The regrouping boxes are ignored unless the difference is in error. The student only needs to correct the numbers in the red boxes. This helps the student quickly identify the error and correct it. There is no borrowing at the easy level and only two digit problems are given. Borrowing is introduced at the medium level. The hard level includes double borrowing (borrowing through a zero) and three digit numbers. Multidigit Addition Instructions (the box with 12+34) This is a set of lessons on how to solve multidigit addition problems. The student is not required to answer any questions. Select one of the problems with the mouse and press the 'go' key. The computer will go through step-by-step instructions on how to solve the problem. If you want to pause at any point, press the 'pause' button. Press 'go' again and the computer will continue from where it left off. The 'fast', 'medium', and 'slow' keys change the speed of the lesson. Multiplication (the box with 7x8=?) Catch the numbers as they pop up from behind the wall. One is the correct answer to the problem. Put it in the box and press "check" to check your answer. The easy level covers the 1, 2, and 3 tables. Medium covers the 0 through 6 tables. The hard level covers the 0 through 9 tables and also includes missing-factor problems. These are problems of the type ?x2=6 and 4x?=20. Division (the box with 9ö3=?) This game is a timed division test. The challenge is to answer the questions within two minutes. Each time a question is answered the green frog hops. Race the other frog across the screen. The 's', 'm', and 'f' keys in the main menu select 5, 10 or 20 questions per set. The easy level uses the 1, 2, and 3 tables. The medium level uses the 1 through 6 tables. The hard level uses the 1 through 9 tables and also uses missing-factor problems. IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE PROGRAM We hope you never have any problems but if you do, the program will try to print a message to the screen. Here are some examples. "Could not find an EGA or VGA card" This message will be displayed when you try to run the program on a computer without the proper display driver card. Earlier CGA monitors do not have sufficient resolution for the text that accompanies the instructions and are not supported. Monochrome systems are also not supported. The program will work fine on true EGA and VGA systems. "Not enough memory" Although the program will work with systems with less than 512K of memory, most of that memory must be available to the program. Some computers have memory set aside for RAM Disks or TSR programs. TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs include such popup or background programs as Borland's Sidekick. These subtract from the memory available to the program. You may have to remove one or more of these to run Math Sampler. You will find them in a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. If you are not familiar with these, seek out a friend who is or read the manuals that came with your computer. Another good place to get information on AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS is in a book on DOS. There are usually several in the library. "Could not find file" This would most likely be caused by trying to run the program from a directory that does not include the "extra" files used by Math Sampler. These files typically contain graphic images that are loaded as needed. It is easiest to go to the drive and directory containing a copy of the complete set of programs that came on the distribution disk (the one you bought) and run from there. "Could not read file" This is more serious than not finding the file. It says the file was found but the computer was not able to read all of the information in the file. It is possible that the file has become corrupted. In that case, just replace the corrupted file with the one from your backup disk. (It is just as easy to start over and replace all of the files). It is also possible that the disk drive is having trouble reading the disk. Remove the disk from the drive and tap the disk on the table. Then reinsert the disk into the drive and try again. This does not work all the time but it is so simple that it is worth a try. The program runs but there is a bunch of junk flickering on the screen. If this happens, press the F1 key. If the flickering stops then you probably have an old EGA driver with less than a full complement of memory. True EGA has memory for two complete screens (called "pages"). Math Sampler needs both. Although many EGA programs will run on these cards, others will not. You might check with your hardware dealer about an upgrade. Program does not run at all. Hmm? Never heard of that happening. Try the disk on another IBM compatible. You should at least get a message in text identifying the program (before the First Magnitude screen). If you do not, then the disk or program has been corrupted or your disk drive may have an alignment problem. None of the above. Even though I tried very hard to make a foolproof program, there is still a chance that something could go wrong. When that happens, I would like to know about it. Be sure to get as much information ready before calling as possible. I need such information as type of computer, type of display, DOS version, TSR's that might be running, and a detailed explanation of the symptoms. The more complete the information the easier it will be to solve the problem. TELEPHONE SUPPORT If you have read and tried all of the above and still need help, you can call the following number (513) 436-0232. It will help if you have all of the information ready and you are sitting in front of your computer when you call.