A Physicist's Guide to Mathematica, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2. Interactive Use of Mathematica

This chapter covers the use of Mathematica as a supercalculator. It does what an electronic calculator can do, and it does a lot more. We enter input and Mathematica returns the output. As seen in Chapter 1, the nth input is labeled “In[n]:=” and the corresponding output, “Out[n]=”.

Numerical Capabilities

Arithmetic Operations

Table 2.1 lists the arithmetic symbols in Mathematica. Here are some examples of their use:

In[1]:= 2.1 + 3.72
Out[1]= 5.82
In[2]:= 6.882/2
Out[2]= 3.441

In[3]:= 2^3
Out[3]= 8

Table 2.1. Arithmetic Operations in Mathematica

Mathematica Operation	Symbol
Addition	+
Subtraction	−
Multiplication	*
Division	/
Exponentiation	^

Spaces and Parentheses

Any number of spaces can replace the symbol * for multiplication: ...