Computing with Mathematica, Second Edition
| 2002-10-25 00:00:00 | | 0 | Computer Application
Computing with Mathematica, 2nd edition is engaging and interactive. It is designed to teach readers how to use Mathematica efficiently for solving problems arising in fields such as mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering. The text moves from simple to complex, often following a specific example on a number of different levels. This gradual increase in
complexity allows readers to steadily build their competence without being overwhelmed.
The 2nd edition of this acclaimed book features:
* An enclosed CD for Mac and Windows that contains the entire text as a
collection of Mathematica notebooks
* Substantive real world examples
* Challenging exercises, moving from simple to complex
* A collection of interactive projects from a variety of applications
`I really think this is an almost perfect text.` -Stephen Brick,
University of South Alabama
* Substantive real world examples
* Challenging exercises, moving from simple to complex examples
* Interactive explorations (on the included CD-ROM) from a variety of topics using a multitude of interesting mathematical applications
User review
You'll learn Mathematica, but,,.
I'm using this text for a Mathematica course at an undergraduate level. Several of my previous math (calculus and beyond calculus) courses had me using Mathematica, but not really understanding what I was doing. This book has helped quite a bit.
The problems I have, however, is the exercises. A few times I've run into exercises that are of the form `(1) Do all these long, tedious steps; (2) Undo half of what you did, and redo it in a different way; (3) Write a paragraph explaining what you did and what you learned.` It seems like these could have been streamlined just a bit.
This book claims to be suited for students with a background consisting of the basic calculus sequence and linear algebra (in other words, engineering math). Some of the problems are similar to what someone will see in a number theory course, advanced calculus or maybe even numerical analysis or discrete mathematics. None of these subjects are particularly terrible, but one can spend an hour or so trying to get a handle on the math behind the problem (speaking from experience), and then another hour trying to figure out how to get Mathematica do do what is asked. Being a math major, I welcome this, but it seems like a rather poor and inefficient way to teach someone with less of a background in math how to use Mathematica.
My final gripe is the wording of the problems. The instructions aren't always that instructive, and the goal you're asked to attain is sometimes a little too vague.
Ultimately, expect to learn how to use Mathematica through this book (which is the point of the text), but also expect to be VERY fursterated at times trying to figure out what the problem is asking or the mathematics behind it.
User review
Lots of Problems for Students to Work On
Mathematica has become a common part of many undergraduates' toolkits, for those majoring in engineering or the physical sciences. Many undergraduate courses also use it, by assigning problems that explicity require running it to obtain answers. Certainly, its ability to perform symbolic algebra is excellent.
Given all this, the authors have produced a worthy book that meets a real need amongst some students for an explanatory text. In some ways, perhaps the most useful thing is the ample number of problems, that for a given topic, scale from simple to hard. Possibly the best way for the reader to assimilate the ideas and to be able to manipulate Mathematica facilely.
The book does not offer a comprehensive description of all the features of Mathematica. Which may be for the best, in terms of avoiding information overload on the student. Rather, it is seen as the place to defer to the official Mathematica online and hardcopy documentation.