The Joy of Mathematica, Second Edition: Instant Mathematica for Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra [Plastic Comb]

Alan Shuchat (Author), Fred Shultz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0126407304 | ISBN-13: 978-0126407303 | Edition: 2

Joy of Mathematica, Second Edition, is a book and software combination for Windows and Macintosh that makes Mathematica easier to use and learn. The software includes the most common Mathematica operations needed in the first two years of college and university courses. The book is a manual for the software and an introduction to using Mathematica for mathematics and its applications to other fields. It contains material for students in calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra courses. Students and professionals will benefit from this user-friendly, practical guide to Mathematica.
* The CD:
* Runs on both Windows and Power Macintosh platforms
* Is optimized for Mathematica 4.0
* Requires that Mathematica's kernel and front end be on the same computer
* Includes a palette for easy entry of common mathematical notation
The Book:
* Contains ready-to-use exercises and labs for the mathematics classroom
* Now includes more coverage of multivariable calculus and differential equations, in addition to single-variable calculus and linear algebra

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book makes it easier to use and learn Mathematica by substituting menus and dialog boxes for typing commands. Access Mathematica's power instantly by pointing and clicking in the simplified environment provided on the CD enclosed in this book. The Joy of Mathematica is both a manual for the software and an introduction to using Joy and Mathematica for mathematics and its applications to other fields. The Joy of Mathematica can be used as a supplement to mathematics texts in calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.
Note: Mathematica 3.0 or higher is required to use the accompanying software.
The CD:
* Runs on both Windows and Power Macintosh platforms
* Is optimized for Mathematica 4.0
* Requires that Mathematica's kernel and front end be on the same computer
* Includes a palette for easy entry of common mathematical notation
The Book:
* Contains ready-to-use exercises and labs for the mathematics classroom
* Now includes more coverage of multivariable calculus and differential equations, in addition to single-variable calculus and linear algebra
About the Authors:
Alan Shuchat (Ph.D., University of Michigan) and Fred Shultz (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) are both Professors of Mathematics at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. They have each won awards at Wellesley for excellence in teaching. This book was developed initially to make more effective use of Mathematica in their own courses and has won wide acceptance since the publication of its First Edition in 1994.

Product Details

• Plastic Comb: 576 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 2 edition (March 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0126407304
• ISBN-13: 978-0126407303
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Mathematica a Joy to Use, June 14, 2000

By 

Allen Waxman (Newton, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Joy of Mathematica, Second Edition: Instant Mathematica for Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra (Plastic Comb)

"The Joy of Mathematica" really does make Mathematica software a "Joy" to use, and to learn. Users of Mathematica know and love the powerful capabilities of this excellent mathematical software environment for symbolic and numeric computation with incredible support for 2D and 3D graphics. Students and professionals considering adopting Mathematica are often awestruck by the enormous range of mathematical capabilities suddenly put at their fingertips. However, Mathematica is not a Joy to use, as each powerful command (and there are many) is accompanied by so many parameters and modifiers (all necessary), requiring a not so Joyful syntax. "The Joy of Mathematica" comes to the rescue, and indeed, it is a real JOY to use! "Joy" comes in the form of a book, an easy to use tutorial and guide, with an accompanying CD. The software on the CD installs easily, and modifies your own Mathematica "front end" environment by providing very useful and well organized pull-down menus which launch diaglog boxes. The diaglog boxes are great! They remind the user which parameters and choices need to be specified in the context of a particular Mathematica command. They provide immediate examples for the student to try. They output clear summaries of the entered requests, organize the computed output, and allow the user to view the actual Mathematica commands which "Joy" issues. This in turn helps the user learn Mathematica's arcane command syntax (if you want to bother). "Joy" provides the student and experienced user with the menu structure we all wish we had when using Mathematica. "Joy" is really a terrific teaching and learning tool for college students of science and engineering, and a great way to bring great math software into the hands of high school students. It's a "Joy" for me and my son, and it will work for you too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second edition is optimized for Mathematica 4.0..., March 26, 2005

By 

Stephen Armstrong (Hadley, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Joy of Mathematica, Second Edition: Instant Mathematica for Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra (Plastic Comb)

Joy does work on Mathematica 5.1, however, the current version, and it runs on both Mac and PC platforms (OS X for the Mac and Windows XP for the PC).

Joy is a wonderful compilation of program-based notebooks that shorten the time-to-use Mathematica dramatically, for both novice and computer-savvy students and learners. The manual is well-written, visually attractive, and uncluttered.

Joy of Mathematica makes it far easier to graph (2- and 3-D, parametric, polar coordinates, and more), manipulate expressions (simplify, solve), differentiate and integrate functions, work with series and sequences, vector fields, matrices, multiple variables, and so forth.

Writing adjuncts to Mathematica is something of a cottage industry, and several other Mathematica-based programs can help: Calculus Wiz (for high school and college students), Explorer, and Navigator, for instance.

Wolfram Research (publisher of Mathematica) wants to penetrate the secondary-level educational market and is offering very attractive site licenses to schools and individual licenses to students at those schools. It is not clear whether the publishers of Joy will offer a similar site license and individual student purchase rate.

Finally, it is not known at this point whether the authors will re-optimize Joy for Mathematica 5.1 version.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!!!!, April 11, 2003

By 

Tom in San Diego (San Diego,California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Joy of Mathematica, Second Edition: Instant Mathematica for Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra (Plastic Comb)

A wonderful book! Maple has been described as "the force" in CAS with Mathematica described as "the dark force". This wonderful book brings Mathematica into the light.