MathGroup Archive 2007

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Search the Archive

Re: Book or Manual for 6?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg78616] Re: Book or Manual for 6?
  • From: magma <maderri2 at gmail.com>
  • Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 04:10:13 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <f5qitl$5fs$1@smc.vnet.net><200706270932.FAA01420@smc.vnet.net>

On 28 Giu, 10:33, Murray Eisenberg <mur... at math.umass.edu> wrote:
> Although I agree fundamentally with everything that David says about how
> to learn Mathematica (and other things as well), there are still three
> issues, the third of which some other poster mentioned:
>
> (1) Still, there are occasions when I want no electronic impediment
> whatsoever and just want to look at a book.  Clearly some thing are best
> learned with the live system, but there are others for which a clear
> exposition, with good examples and in a coherent underlying conceptual
> structure, suffices.
>
> (2) As a university teacher for over 40 years, the longer I teach the
> more I realize how very different learning styles can be.  So a
> multiplicity of learning modes and materials is warranted.
>
> (2) Perhaps it's not so much a printed book per se that I, and some
> others, miss, but rather the quasi-linear (and spirally structured) path
> through Mathematica provided by "The Mathematica Book".
>
> Just because the system itself may be a web does not preclude an author
> from creating a more-or-less linear path through (part of) it.

I completely agree with Murray Eisenberg.
A linear path thru the Documentation center is much needed. Several
"tutorials" are hidden in the documentation, but it might be hard for
a new Mathematica user to find them and read them in a sensible order.
There is no doubt though, that in a few months we wiill see a plethora
of Mathematica 6 books for everyone coming to the market, but still the
"official" Mathematica 6 book (maybe just in pdf format) will be missed.



  • Prev by Date: Re: Labeling individual plot points using PlotMarkers
  • Next by Date: Re: Compiled function changes somehow.
  • Previous by thread: Re: Zoom2D
  • Next by thread: Re: Book or Manual for 6?