Mathematical Tools at MIT: Introduction to Mathematica

Overview

The following materials were originally developed for a hands-on training course offered during the Independent Activities Period in January. The exercise topics are designed to be applicable to many disciplines.

MIT students, others members of the MIT community, and the general public may use the materials as a standalone tutorial. They are made available to the MIT community and the general public under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States license.

Class Materials

Every session has a PDF handout with instructions on how to start the tutorial. Additional instructions are given in the Mathematica notebooks with lectures, exercises, and solutions. The lecture notebooks summarize Mathematica concepts, functions, and programming routines that are introduced and/or practiced in the sessions.

Note: Some exercises in sessions 2, 3, 4, and 5 build on exercises that have been completed in previous sessions.

Session	Description	Lecture & Exercise Files
1. Mathematica User Interface and Basics Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova	Front end and kernel. Notebooks. Input forms, typsetting. Variables, operators. Built-in and user defined functions. Lists. Equations. File I/O. Exercises: Using operators, functions, and lists; defining functions; solving equations.	Instructions (pdf) Interface_Basics (individual files)
2. Numeric and Symbolic Applications Developed by Prof. W. C. Carter	Accuracy representation, precision. Polymorphism. Symbolic.vs.numeric computation. Patterns. Evaluation. Defining and using functions. Sympliifying symbolic expressions. "Smart functions." Exercises: symbolic and numeric applications.	Instructions (pdf) Numeric_Symbolic_Applications (individual files)
3. Linear Algebra and Calculus Developed by Prof. W. C. Carter	Vectors and matrices. Linear equations. Derivatives and integrals. Differential equations. Numerical Solutions, interpolating functions. Exercises: matrix math and differential equations for science and engineering.	Instructions (pdf) Linear_Algebra_Calculus (individual files)
4. Graphics Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova	2D and 3D plots, real time 3D. Graphics options. Standard and add-on graphics packages. Exercises: plotting functions and data in 2D and 3D. Examples: sound and animation.	Instructions (pdf) Graphics (individual files)
5. Programming Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova	Assignments, patterns, and tests. Logical and relational operators. Loops and listable functions. Variable scoping. Procedural, functinoal, and rule-based programming. Exercise: writing a program. Examples: science packages.	Instructions (pdf) Programming (individual files)

Session

Description

Lecture & Exercise Files

1. Mathematica User Interface and Basics

Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova

Front end and kernel. Notebooks. Input forms, typsetting. Variables, operators. Built-in and user defined functions. Lists. Equations. File I/O.

Exercises: Using operators, functions, and lists; defining functions; solving equations.

Instructions (pdf)

Interface_Basics (individual files)

2. Numeric and Symbolic Applications

Developed by Prof. W. C. Carter

Accuracy representation, precision. Polymorphism. Symbolic.vs.numeric computation. Patterns. Evaluation. Defining and using functions. Sympliifying symbolic expressions. "Smart functions."

Exercises: symbolic and numeric applications.

Instructions (pdf)

Numeric_Symbolic_Applications (individual files)

3. Linear Algebra and Calculus

Developed by Prof. W. C. Carter

Vectors and matrices. Linear equations. Derivatives and integrals. Differential equations. Numerical Solutions, interpolating functions.

Exercises: matrix math and differential equations for science and engineering.

Instructions (pdf)

Linear_Algebra_Calculus (individual files)

4. Graphics

Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova

2D and 3D plots, real time 3D. Graphics options. Standard and add-on graphics packages.

Exercises: plotting functions and data in 2D and 3D.

Examples: sound and animation.

Instructions (pdf)

Graphics (individual files)

5. Programming

Developed by Dr. V. Ivanova

Assignments, patterns, and tests. Logical and relational operators. Loops and listable functions. Variable scoping. Procedural, functinoal, and rule-based programming.

Exercise: writing a program.

Examples: science packages.

Instructions (pdf)

Programming (individual files)

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Mathematical Tools at MIT: Introduction to Mathematica

Overview

Class Materials

IS&T Service Desk

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