Re: Book recommendation for Mathematica
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg9635] Re: Book recommendation for Mathematica
- From: Mathematicaa at kmtech.ie (Dr. Mícheál Mac an Airchinnigh)
- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 19:49:43 -0500
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
In article <64j3o3$6eq at smc.vnet.net>, gaylord at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (richard j. gaylord) wrote: >In article <64fh6e$c6s$5 at dragonfly.wolfram.com>, "Sherman.Reed" ><sherman.reed at worldnet.att.net> wrote: > > >> 3. Mathematica is not for the faint hearted, it a serious and >> complicated computer based algebra tool for engineers and scientists >> who want to push the frontier, and are willing to pay the price for >> success. > >you shouldn't generalize like that; it unnecessarily scares off people. > >it may have been hard for you to master, but for alot of other people >it's easy to learn to use [my students learn to write good programs in >mathematica in a month's time once they are forbidden to use procedural >style]. > --- I would like to support Richard's view. I have first year students in an Information and Communications Technology course *using* Mathematica "to do math by computer" in their Mathematics Course (which is largely Discrete Math). Admittedly, it does take time for them to get used to the syntax and conventions. But once that hurdle is mastered then one gets incredible leverage in what can be done and learnt. Like Richard we emphasize *use* of Mathematica; any "programming" that is done is largely in the definition of functions. Finally, for information, Mathematica is used to complement the main course text by Norman Biggs, Discrete Mathematics, Oxford University Press, 1989. --- Regards, M. Mac an Airchinnigh -- ===================================================================== = [[chop]] denotes the action of the free monoid removal endomorphism = = Dr. Micheal Mac an Airchinnigh = Technical Director = K&M Technologies Limited = http://www.kmtech.ie/ = mailto:Mathematicaa at kmtech.ie mailto:macanairchinnigh at acm.org = ======================================================================