Every engineer, scientist, and mathematician has taken classes that introduced calculus, and many have learned more advanced mathematics such as differential equations. Unfortunately, the majority of a student's time is often spent performing algebra rather than understanding advanced concepts. Sage has powerful tools that automate the tedious process of moving symbols around in algebraic expressions. Further, Sage is capable of differentiating and integrating complicated functions, and performing Laplace transforms that would otherwise need to be looked up in a reference book. In fact, Sage can perform integrals and Laplace transforms that can't realistically be performed by hand. Students and professionals will find it worth their time to learn how to utilize Sage to perform tedious mathematics so that they can focus on understanding important concepts and performing creative problem-solving.

Although this chapter will focus on undergraduate-level...