Mathematica

Mathematica Information

Vendor: Wolfram Research, web site
Category: Mathematical computation, analysis, visualization, and algorithm development
Help and Support: Mathematica offers a ten-minute tutorial upon entering the program that describes its many functions and abilities. There is a short introductory screencast (see below). The Help Browser has sections on built-in functions, add-ons and links, getting started, tour, demos, the Mathematica Book, front end, as well as a master index. In the Help Browser you can find proper notation for functions and numbers that must be used within the program, as well as information about each of Mathematica’s functions.

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Traditional Form Notation

Do you want Mathematica output to look more like typical mathematics, or like a mathematics textbook? Wolfram has made a short screencast that shows how to set all output to be in Mathematica's TraditionalForm notation. View it.

Hands-0n Start to Mathematica Screencast

March 2009 -- The Hands-on Start to Mathematica screencast is a brief introduction to the key features of Mathematica. The screencast has been updated to show new functionality in Version 7, including the new Classroom Assistant Palette and building your own interactive models. The screencast is less than 20 minutes long and set up so that you can run the screencast and Mathematica together so you can learn what the presenter is showing.

In April, Wolfram added Part 2, because "Hands-On Start to Mathematica" has been their most popular video for education. Part 2 is based on the topics users requested most that were not covered in Part 1. These two videos work together to get students up to speed in less than one lecture.

Mathematica 6 Player

10/07 Wolfram writes: We're excited to announce a new service that makes it easy to publish and share Mathematica 6 dynamic applications with anyone--whether or not they have Mathematica 6. Using the new Publish for Player site, you can convert your interactive notebooks for use with the free Mathematica Player. That means you can instantly begin deploying your work to others without any software barriers.

The entire process takes just a few seconds. When you upload your notebook (.nb), a link to the translated Player file (.nbp) is immediately sent back to you by email.

Visit the Publish for Player site to start converting your notebooks, and remember to bookmark it for future use: http://www.wolfram.com/interactivedeployment/publish

We'd be pleased to hear your feedback about this new service. Try it out and contact us if you have any comments or need more information about your deployment options.

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

6/07 Wolfram writes: The Wolfram Demonstrations Project is a free site dedicated to a new form of interactive demonstration. Already, there are more than 1,300 Demonstrations on the site, and we are rapidly receiving new contributions in a remarkable range of areas.

Any Mathematica 6 user can author a Demonstration and submit it to the site. Published Demonstrations can be downloaded and run by anyone--even those without Mathematica 6--using the new free Mathematica Player (http://www.wolfram.com/products/player).

We hope you'll have a chance to take a look. Please give us your comments and suggestions--and, of course, consider publishing your own Demonstrations on the site.

Mathematica Description

Mathematica integrates a numeric and symbolic computational engine, graphics system, programming language, documentation system, and advanced connectivity to other applications.

Mathematica Usage

What It Does

Mathematica allows mathematical skills to be brought to a technical level. With its many built-in functions, Mathematica allows for complex problems to be solved efficiently and accurately. Along with its many functions, Mathematica can sort numbers into tables, matrices, and create two- and three-dimensional graphs. It can also perform integrals, derivatives, and assign values to variables to solve complex equations. Differential equations can be solved with the aid of Mathematica. The data produced by Mathematica in calculations can be imported and exported in various formats, such as pictures, graphs, etc. These data can also be manipulated within Mathematica or through other programs to which the data is exported.

How It Is Used

Mathematica is used to solve problems which would be difficult or impossible to solve by hand. It also acts as a resource when checking to make sure hand-calculated solutions are accurate.

Usage Information

On a Linux workstation, start Mathematica from the Applications | Engineering Software menu or from a shell prompt. On a Windows computer go to Start | All Programs | Wolfram Mathematica.

updated: 23 April 2009