Is it ethical to use WolframAlpha on a take-home exam for a math class? A couple qualifiers: this is a make-up exam where the original exam allowed for a scientific calculator but not a graphing/symbol-solving calculator.
The professor has made no other stipulations about the exam yet (no word on if it's the same rules as for regular exams or otherwise). He has simply just announced one will be given out.
Generally speaking, if a particular set of tools was permitted - in your case a scientific calculator but not a graphing calculator, I would assume those would be the only tools permitted.
This is especially true for tools, like Wolfram Alpha, that duplicate functionality of things that have been disallowed, like graphing calculators and calculators that can deal with symbolic notation.
No, it is not ethical to do so.
In addition to the "spirit of the law" argument made by Fomite, you should consider that the computer running the WolframAlpha software is a "graphing/symbol-solving" calculator, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary's definition of calculator as "a usually electronic device for performing mathematical calculations," so not even the exam rules as written (the "letter of the law") would permit you to use it.
(I'm assuming that the make-up exam has the same rules regarding calculators as the regular exam did, which seems like a reasonable assumption until we see the make-up exam.)
I would say it depends on what kind of exam you're going to get. It's quite possible that the take-home exam will actually account for the possibility of students using online tools.
This is unlikely to be ethical on the student's part, as it would mean them bypassing the learning expected to form part of this assessment and so they may be gaining a qualification under false pretences.
If this qualification is then used to gain a job, for example, in many locales the end result could be considered a fraudulent activity.
It is likely that the university will also have wider guidance about plagiarism. Copying from an Internet source, without acknowledgement, which the use of WolframAlpha would represent, would be considered plagiarism.
Now, it may be that the take home assessment allows the use of the Internet. In that case, using, acknowledging and citing WolframAlpha may be acceptable. At that point, whether this was a good idea would depend on how the marking scheme was constructed. If the scheme only requires the answers (and possibly working) the student may be able to get full marks. If the exam (and marking scheme) is constructed to require the student to go beyond the information available online, then the raw WolframAlpha answers would not be enough.
In practice, if the assessment was set up to be so easily solvable in this way, it is unlikely to represent best practice. A wide body of literature exists for professors on how to set assessments that also positively promote academic integrity. It may be worth the professor actively engaging with these as part of their continual staff development.
Is it ethical for the professor to give a take-home exam with a set of instructions that probably can't be enforced by anyone? Is the professor going to police every student's taking of the exam by patrolling each and every domicile? The point is that in real life you have to consider and worry about what the other students are going to do. Trust me...it's generally not the "ethical" thing.
In all likelihood, the professor is going to create a very difficult take-home exam and then allow the students to have at it, no holds barred. This will eliminate the effects of the unavoidable tendency among students to be unethical.
Here's the crux of it. If you are going to break one of the professor's rules, don't get caught and never ever admit to it if you get accused. That goes for the rest of life as well because there will always be someone "holier than thou" who will try to hang you.
