Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008

By Terry Currier
October 2008 issue

After seeing Microsoft demo Encarta years ago at one of the user group meetings, I went out and brought it. I’ve owned several versions of Encartaover the years. While my kids are out of school, I don’t really need it as much. With the Internet you can look up many things. The reality though is it’s much handier to have the information on your computer than to have to be constantly going out to look for it.

The Encarta Kids part is geared towards ages 7 and up. It can help young students with homework. It has offers articles, multimedia, and interactive games. For the older kids in grades 7-8 there is:

• Microsoft Math
• Encarta Dictionaries
• Find definitions or synonyms, or translate words into another language.
• World Atlas - Find maps of locations. More geography content includes Map Treks, statistical maps, and country facts and figures.
• Literary Tools - Get resources to help you with writing or with studying literature. Literary tools include quotations and book summaries.
• Homework Tools button - to access popular homework tools from anywhere in Microsoft Student.  

Microsoft Math will probably be the most useful to students (I can barely remember Algebra) it includes the following features:

• Calculator pad and Worksheet tab to evaluate expressions and perform numeric calculations.
• Graphing tab to plot equations, inequalities, functions, and other expressions.
• Equation Solver to solve a single equation or system of equations.
• Formulas and Equations find many widely used formulas, constants, and equations from a variety of mathematical and scientific disciplines, including algebra, geometry, chemistry, and physics. Click an equation to plot it or solve it for a particular variable.
• Triangle Solver calculate sides, angles, and other information about triangles from known information that you provide.
• Unit Conversion Tool convert measurements in one system to a different system.

Even if you are not a student the Encarta Dictionaries can be of use. You can double-click a word to quickly find the definition in the dictionary. The definition appears on the Dictionary tab. In addition there is a Thesaurus, and a Translations module to translate a word or phrase into another language. If you’re worried about what your kids may see there are parental controls available to exclude some words from the dictionary (but only the dictionary.)

For the student (or parent) wanting help to choose a college or wondering what is needed to get in, Encarta has two modules. College Prep will do things such as helping complete assignments, standardized test preparation, even help finding scholarships. Apply to College will help your college application stand out, and even show you online courses to help get a college degree online.

I truly wish I had this in school. For term papers I would have saved my hand cramping from copying the encyclopedia. Even so I still enjoyed doing the history and geography quizzes.

Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008 $27 at Amazon.com

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