10 Chapter00.
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A brief description is displayed. If you click on the à, the full documentation page will open for the
function. Also remember that functions discussed in this manual will appear blue and underlined.
Clicking on them will open the documentation page for the function, provided you are using the Mathe-
matica Notebook version of the chapter.
Wolfram|Alpha Integration
Another useful feature of Mathematica is the integration with Wolfram|Alpha. In particular, you can
use the seamless integration to take advantage of the free-form linguistic input to have Wolfram|Alpha
help you determine the appropriate Mathematica syntax. For example, suppose you want to compute
the square root of 9, but do not know about the Sqrt function. You invoke the free-form linguistic
interpretation by beginning an input with an equals sign, or selecting “Free-form input” from the new
cell drop-down menu (obtained by clicking on ). Then you simply type what you want, e.g.,
“square root of 9”. So you would type the below.
= square root of 9
When you evaluate such a cell, Mathematica connects to Wolfram|Alpha to interpret your input and
displays the proper Mathematica function. Mathematica then evaluates that expression to obtain the
result.
In[13]:= ‹ square root of 9
Sqrt@9D
Out[13]= 3
This is a useful way to determine the right function to use. Then you can explore the documentation to
learn more about the function and its arguments in order to get precisely what you want.
Also note that beginning an input cell will two equals signs will produce results just as if you entered
the query on the Wolfram|Alpha website.
Arithmetic
Mathematica uses the typical notation for arithmetic. For addition and subtraction, Mathematica uses +
and - just as you would expect. The - symbol is used for negation as well. Multiplication and division
are performed with * and /, and ^ is used for exponentiation.
Mathematica also obeys the usual order of precedence for arithmetic operators, and parentheses serve
as grouping symbols. However, brackets, braces, and angle brackets all have different meanings in
Mathematica and cannot be used as grouping symbols in arithmetic expressions. So to compute the
2 2
expression 7 + 2 ÿ B5 - J pN F, you would enter the following, using Pi for p and parentheses in place
3
of the brackets.
In[14]:= 7 + 2 * H5 - H2 ê 3 * PiL^2L
4 p2
Out[14]= 7+2 5-
9
Note that the multiplication symbol following the 2 is optional. Also, Mathematica performs some
algebraic simplifications automatically. If you desire additional simplification, you can use the Sim-
plify function.
