Starting Mathematica
From a Unix shell, type
mathematica &
The program will start up in a new window.
Getting Acquainted
Mathematica has an extensive help browser with a user interface which
is similar to Netscape. If you have never used Mathematica before, a
good place to start is the section ``A Practical Introduction to
Mathematica'' which is part of Mathematica's online documentation.
Here is how you find it:
- Select ``Help...'' from the pull-down menu ``Help''
- Click on ``The Mathematica Book''
- Click on the area to the right of ``Go To:''
- Type `C1' into this field and press Enter.
Data Protection
By default, Mathematica does not auto-save your data. Mathematica
crashes frequently. You will loose data unless you continuously save
anything you want to keep. If you worry about your data (you
should), there are two options to make Mathematica safer:
- Set the ``NotebookAutosave'' option. It is hidden in the menu
``Edit - Preferences... - Notebook Options - File Options''. Your
notebook will be saved after each evaluation.
As Mathematica is
likely to crash during evaluation, this does not
protect your last input.
- Do not use the notebook interface. The text based user
interface described below is much more stable, and you can use a
trusted text editor such as Emacs to edit
your input. Disadvantage: You cannot use any of the special
symbols, which may make expressions more difficult to read.
The Text Based User Interface
Mathematica has also a simple text based user interface (which was
actually the only available interface in prior versions of
Mathematica). To start up Mathematica without the notebook front-end,
simply type
math
You may prefer using this interface if you work over a slow remote
connection, or if you generally prefer the increased speed that this
mode of operation offers. You can still display graphical output,
even if you are logged in over a phone line from home, provided that
your computer runs X-windows. For detailed see the section on remote sessions.
ASCII Files vs. Notebooks
If you are using the text based user interface, or do some serious
Mathematica programming, you will find it convenient to store the
Mathematica instructions in a separate file. You can edit the file
with a powerful text editor such as Emacs,
and let Mathematica execute the file by typing
<<filename
at the Mathematica prompt. For this mode of operation, the text-based
interface is completely sufficient, but the notebook interface will do
as well.
Differential Equations with Mathematica
The Mathematica notebooks which accompany the book ``Differential
Equations with Mathematica'' by Abell and Braselton are available
on the CAM server. The directory is
/local/mathematicaLibrary/ODEbook
and the notebook for the first chapter is the file
/local/mathematicaLibrary/ODEbook/chap1a.nb
To open this notebook, select ``Open...'' from the pull-down menue
``File'' and type (or paste) the entire file name into the
field ``File Name:''. The other notebooks can be accessed similarly.
Some
external links about Mathematica and its applications to
differential equations.