SageMath and 3D Graphics

As mentioned in an earlier post, Sage Maths is a high-level mathematical system that combines a large variety of open-source (free) software into one powerful bundle.
In the classroom, one of the most exciting features is it's interactive 3D plots.

1. Start up the Sage server in VirtualBox, and open your browser to 127.0.0.1:8080 (or localhost:8000, depending on how your installation is set up).
2. Click on the link, New Worksheet and give your new sheet a name (e.g. 3D plot).
3. Click the button "typeset" to make your equations look neat and professional.
4. In the first box, type in the command:
   var('x,y')
   and type SHIFT-Enter to evaluate the command. This sets up Sage to recognize x's and y's as symbolic variables in the lines below.
5. In the next box, type in the command:
   plot3d(x*y^3,(x,-2,2),(y,-2,2))
   and SHIFT-Enter. This will generate an interactive 3d plot of the function xy^3, from x = -2 to 2, and y = -2 to 2. You can click and drag on the box to rotate the graph.

Looks very impressive on a projector at the front of the class.