Software Choice: Mathematica®

The practice of and the pedagogy of Applied mathematics is significantly aided by the existence of computer symbolic algebra/calculus packages and visualization. I conclude that an introduction and some proficiency training in one of these tools is pedagogically sound. There are a number of different good choices including MatLab, Maple, MSOffice Products, and Mathematica. I've chosen Mathematica as a vehicle for this course; in my judgment, it is the most general and powerful mathematical software--although it is perhaps too comprehensive to be mastered rapidly. Mathematica® is freely available to all MIT students. This particular choice should be revisited after the course.

The first five lectures will introduce students to Mathematica® usage, visualization, and programming. Throughout the course, examples will be presented as worked problems in Mathematica® and students will turn in their homework as either Mathematica® printouts or electronic notebooks. Much of this first five lectures will resemble the 16-hour Wolfram training course that I took recently.