Teaching Complex Systems with Mathematica

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Streamlines of wind direction over North America 2 February 2009, created by "Cloudruns" using Mathematica modeling program. Image from Wikipedia.

Mathematica is a tool for engineering analysis and modeling, and can be used for applications as varied as simple calculator operations to large-scale programming. Mathematica integrates a numeric and symbolic computational engine, graphics system, programming language, documentation system, and advanced connectivity to other applications. The Mathematica product site includes a description of Mathematica, key elements of the tool, a tour of its features, technical requirements, revision history and a free trial version of the calculation tool.

Mathematica Tutorial

This set of nine, self-paced tutorials will expose you to various Mathematica tools and skills. During these tutorials, you will:

1. Learn a subset of Mathematica by example,
2. Get a feeling for the structure of Mathematica and some of its potential,
3. Learn how to find out information about Mathematica and its various commands,
4. Develop the ability and confidence to pick Mathematica up again, even if some time has gone by, and
5. Have a sense of the power and scope of Mathematica and whether you want to invest the time and effort in learning this software package.

Teaching Activity

• Sun Spot Analysis: this activity includes a link to an analysis of historical sunspot data that can be completed using Mathematica.