Strengths:Has a kid area for < 7 years old; Dictionary with pronunciation; language translation; equation solver and grapher; detailed global maps
Weaknesses:a bit slow in my Celeron notebook (not complaining, fully expected performance given a Celeron)
Posted Dec 18, 2007 - This is the first time that I bought and used an electronic encyclopedia. Before the purchase, I had debated about Encrata versus Britannica. I read a few reviews that generally like the interface of Encrata and its detailed maps. Upon the first firing up of the software, I was surprised to see a dictionary with pronunciation, language translator, equation solver and grapher and an interactive globe map.
There is also the Encrata for kids younger than 7 years old. It has some fun activities that are pretty attractive to kids, e.g. a human organ puzzle.
The interactive globe is pretty amazing. It allows you to rotate the globe in any direction you like and view the globe from any direction. It also allows you to measure distance between any 2 points on the globe. When doing so, Encrata will show the connecting line between the 2 points as a curve, reminding you that the shortest line between the 2 points is not necessary a stright line as viewed on the 2-D globe on the screen.
I fully expected a dictionary would come with Encrata, but did not expect it has pronunciation. I have other electronic dictionaries that have pronunciation, but it is always good to have another one in case some words are missing in one dictionary.
The equation solver is amazing too. I tried to solve x^3 - 2x^2 + 10 = 0. Surely I expected Encrata to solve it, but what I did not expect is that Encrata also showed me the numerical formula (e.g. x = sqrt(23) / 13, of course, this is not the solution) of the solution. This left me puzzled until today because as far as I know, cubic equation is solved by iteration. I don't know there is a close form solution like the solutions of a quadratic equation (updated 12/18/07: obviously, my maths is not good. Cubic equation does have close form solutions). The equation grapher is nice too, although you can graph any equation in Excel manually too. But the nice thing is that you can print out the graph and the equation in a nice manner.
Overall, I am satisfied with my first electronic encyclopedia for $30. Some may argue that you could find almost anything in the web, especially Wikipedia nowadays. But as most of you know, there is no quality control there. The Internet has also degraded since its earlier days. Very few web sites contains good information nowadays. The Internet has become an advertisement jungle. Any words that you search will flood you with annoying advertisements. Your kids will benefit greatly by unplugging the Internet and doing some serious study with this.
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Rated 
Great Education Tool for All Ages
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