四大数学软件教程说明之mathmatics.pdf

What is Mathematica? What is Mathematica? Mathematica is a software system and computer language for use in mathematical applications. The three classes of Mathematica computations are: numerical, symbolic, and graphical. Mathematica can be used as a calculator with a much higher degree of precision than traditional calculators. Mathematica can perform operations on functions, manipulate algebraic formulas, and do calculus. Mathematica is also able to produce both two- and three-dimensional graphs. Mathematica supports its own high-level programming language. Mathematica is more than a calculations package. It is a symbolic, mathematical tool used by thousands of scientists around the world. Mathematica does not just do arithmetic, any program can do that. Mathematica can do math. Algebra, calculus, differential equations, and many more features round out this remarkable software. NOTE: Many of the examples in this tutorial were loosely based on examples found in the books Mathematica , by Stephen Wolfram, and The Beginners Guide to Mathematica Version 2, by Theodore Gray and Jerry Glynn, both published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. file:///C|/PRIMERS/mathematica/math_page1.html [9/28/2000 11:12:00 PM] Mathematica: The Basics Mathematica: The Basics Work in Mathematica takes place in the kernel or notebook (we will use these two words interchangeably thoughout this tutorial). It is in the kernel where computations are actually performed. The kernel is much like a worksheet. Once in Mathematica, there is a Help heading on the menu bar. Selecting this menu gives a list of help areas. You can also get help and information about specific commands (objects) by typing ?Name to get information on Name, ??Name to get extra information on Name, or ?Aaaa* to get information on all objects beginning with Aaaa. In this tutorial, examples will most often duplicate the notebook display in