Analysis of the critical attitude of university social sciences students toward the use of computing software

Abstract

This research is in the context of university mathematics education for social sciences students, in particular, in the fields of economics, business, accounting and finance. It arises from the observed deficiency in the training of students that leads them to trust the accuracy of results obtained through any specialized and widely recognized mathematical software. Some of them know that the software can be mistaken, however they believe that it will only occur in exercises at a far higher level than that affecting them, meaning those involving strictly scientific areas. The research confirms that this blind trust is true, and justifies why they should have a critical attitude toward the use of software at any level. It also provides one of multiple answers to the question that some of them ask: Why devote class time to the methods and certain steps in the algorithms if the computer can solve the exercises?