• What do I want to do?

In addition to the quick calculations and graphing that I routinely carry out with Casio ClassPad, TI-nspire, and Scientific Notebook, I want the most powerful mathematics program available to attack difficult problems and enable me to provide dynamic graphical presentations for my students.

• What technology will help me accomplish my goals?

Mathematica does enable me to carry out routine mathematical calculations and graphing relatively quickly. For more sophisticated applications, I can produce Mathematica notebooks outside of class and then bring them up quickly during a lecture.

• How easy is it to use?

Mathematica is an immense program, but it is easy to use for elementary applications. There are help features both within the program and online. It is not necessary to understand the Wolfram Language, which is the basis of Mathematica, although I find that deeper understanding of the language is useful. In recent versions of Mathematica, there are palettes which allow one to point and click to enter templates for mathematical expressions. Besides entering mathematical expressions with the default Wolfram Language input, there are options for Free-form input and Wolfram Alpha query. With Free-form, you enter items in an intuitive way, and Mathematics converts this to Wolfram Language format. With a Wolfram Alpha query, the form of the input can be either intuitive or using the Wolfram Language. However, the query goes online to the Wolfram Alpha site.

• How do I learn to use it?

There is extensive documentation within the program and online, with details about the Wolfram Language and about each individual function. There are also online examples that can be downloaded for immediate application. I find that it helps to learn more about the Wolfram Language, but individual tasks can be carried out by following and modifying detailed examples, without having to know other aspects of the Wolfram Language.

• How can I obtain it?

I obtained this from Wolfram through their Mathematica for the Classroom program.

Here is a link to the Wolfram website.

http://www.wolfram.com/

• What does it cost?

My original cost, for Mathematica 6.0, was $283. I pay $75 per year to maintain Mathematica Premier Service. This automatically gives me Mathematica upgrades whenever they occur, along with some other services that I have not used.