If you’ve never visited the Wolfram Alpha site, you should check it out. Mathematica 8 also has access to all of the information in Wolfram Alpha. With free form input, you can simply type your question in English, like “What is the integral of sin(x)?” This is amazing feature linguistic programming makes Mathematica accessible to beginners in a way that was unimaginable in that first release back in 1988. As the software progressed, visual templates for integrals became available, allowing users to input an integral the same way they would appear in a textbook. In early versions, you had to learn the language of Mathematica in order to have the program say, solve an integral. One of the coolest thing about Mathematica 8 is called “free form input.” Mathematica inputs have gone through a revolution as its releases have progressed. It is set up to organize these calculations a “notebook,” slide show, or presentation. Mathematica can also model in a variety of ways from simple 2D plots to 3D color animations. Mathematica is capable of performing symbolic algebra calculations, much like a TI-Nspire CAS, but Mathematica’s computer algebra system is capable of far more sophisticated calculations that a handheld calculator would have no ability to solve. Mathematica gives students the ability to perform calculations that would be impractical or impossible using paper and pencil, opening up the possibility of a problems once previously inaccessible to high school and undergraduates (not to mention research mathematicians). The possible uses of Mathematica are endless, as you are limited only by your imagination to think of new mathematical questions to explore.įor students, Mathematica is often used to explore subjects such as Calculus, Differential Equations, and Statistical Analysis, subjects often covered in depth in college, although advanced high school students could also tackle them. Mathematica is a cutting edge software package that can calculate, graph, model, and present complex mathematical ideas that have applications from academic research to industry. What Is Mathematica?įirst off, you need to understand that Mathematica’s abilities do go far beyond the classroom. SInce I am also a beginner on the software, I will keep my review as simple and non-technical as possible. I wanted to do a Mathematica 8 review for the average high school or college student or teacher trying to decide if they want to buy a copy of Mathematica. There are already some reviews of Mathematica out there, but they are pretty technical. It puts hand held graphing calculators to shame as you can do far more than solve equations or plot with Mathematica. This incredible tool has become one of the most popular and powerful programs for the classroom. Were students really learning calculus or were they merely learning to manipulate a computer?įifteen years later, the use of Mathematica 8 in the classroom causes less controversy. Curriculum and Mathematica (or C&M) sections of calculus were all the rage but somewhat controversial. By the time I arrived on the University of Illinois campus as a freshman in 1995, Wolfram was a local legend and Mathematica had become a part of the U of I math department culture. He immediately began developing Mathematica, and it was released in 1988. In 1986, Stephen Wolfram joined the faculty of the University of Illinois.
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