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Under The Microscope

THE MATHEMATICA BOOK, by Stephen Wolfram; Cambridge University Press/ Wolfram Media, 1996; 1400 pp; A$69.95 paperback, A$95.00 hardback

Reviewed by Jon Cherrie

Mathematica, similar to MAPLE, is a mathematics package capable of performing extensive algebraic manipulation as well as numerical evaluation. The Mathematica Book is a complete guide to the package, written by its creator Stephen Wolfram.

This book contains a complete introduction to the basics of using Mathematica as well as a detailed guide to the more advanced features and programming principles of Mathematica. Throughout the book there are many examples of Mathematica code and this makes learning how to use it much easier.

The level of detail contained in the book is good for would-be expert users of Mathematica, however it's not designed for anyone looking for a quick introduction. The first section, which is an introduction to Mathematica, covers the basics of the code very well, but lacks important basic information such as how to clear the memory -- something which is very important when trying different examples. The Tour of Mathematica" at the start of the book provides an easy introduction and summary of some of the more powerful capabilities of Mathematica, but sadly does not reference other parts of the book, making quick advancement to areas of interest more difficult.

The book is a thorough and detailed reference tool, but probably not the best introduction for those with little or no experience of programming or similar mathematics packages.

Jon Cherrie is a PhD student in Mathematics at the University of Canterbury