Creating a Mathematically Intensive Course Without Sacrificing Aesthetics

I have been working on a course lately with a lot of terms and mathematical equations that need to be viewed on the screen. I have found a few treatments that prevent the bland math-y look and create images and graphics that match the visual style used in the rest of the course.

A very useful treatment that I have been using on my current course is "word art". Word art is somewhat lame, but when it comes to showing mathematical equations, or X's and Y's, it's a relief. Most programs have some type of word art, even if it is named something different.

I created the equation, then added the word art treatment, and saved it as a picture (if you don't save it as a picture, it may turn out jumbled). I used the most basic treatment, which has a fill and an outline. By changing the color of parts of the equation, and layering them on top of each other, I'm able to create a highlight effect without using shapes, annotations, or animation. Additionally, when you need just a section of an equation, you can add the image, and crop the sections you don't need.
Using this treatment has added dimension to what would otherwise be a very dry text-on-screen equation. And though it is a simple solution, its benefits are a more eye catching experience with a look that matches with the theme of the other treatments used throughout the course.

In addition to equations, creating real mathematical graphs can be a challenge using excel, but it is possible. You can manipulate the axises to look more like algebra, and less like finance.

You can adjust the axis settings to have the horizontal axis meet the vertical axis at the zero, and then by creating negative values, it will extend your graph to look like linear algebra. You then need to adjust your vertical axis to meet your horizontal axis at whatever value is at the center. You will want to use an odd number of "categories" to achieve this result.

By deleting the default "series" labels and replacing them with numbers, and having the label appear on the tick mark instead of between, you create the linear graph effect easily.

You can use this treatment throughout any mathematical course to illustrate your graphs, and continue to keep within theme and approved colors by creating a border and adjusting the color gradient.

You can also keep with the normal quarter graph look to illustrate other ideas, such as the bottom two graphs I created to illustrate "outliers" and "variance". I removed all axis labels, as they did not reinforce the concept.

Using these graphs allows you to control the background and other effects without having to use shapes, which are unstable, can easily appear messy and uneven, and can be time consuming to create.