UMass Lowell Department of Mathematical Sciences

An on-line course in Mathematica
Next time this course is offered: Summer 2005
through the UMass Lowell On-Line Program

92.419 Introduction to Mathematica

Requirements for the course

1. Registration through Continuing Education at UMass Lowell
2. Mathematica - most likely the most recent version of "Mathematica for Students," which is available for around $140 (one source is www.academicsuperstore.com). This compares with a "list price" of over $1,000. The student version has only minor differences from the "non-student" version. You must prove that you are a student to purchase this version.
3. A computer that will run your version of Mathematica, naturally! Note: No matter what platform you run Mathematica on, there no problem sharing Mathematica files, which are called Notebooks, because they are plain text files and can be easily emailed without any conversion between platforms.
4. An Internet connection & experience with internet tools, including browsers, email, www and ftp.

Academic Prerequisites

Two semesters of calculus and programming experience should be sufficient. An interest in mathematics is really most important.

Course Objectives

1. Become aware of the scope of Mathematica's capabilities.
2. Learn the basics of programming Mathematica, including the use and design of packages.
3. Learn how to use Mathematica graphics.
4. Learn how to solve mathematics problems with Mathematica.
5. Produce a final project in the form of a Mathematica Notebook. The topic of the project will be selected by the student in consultation with the instructor. Sample projects will be provided.

Syllabus

Project Information