Software Reviews : Mathematica for Windows Publisher: Wolfram Research,ioo Trade Center Dr.,Champaign,IL 61820-7237;217-398-0700;800-441-MATH;FAX [phone];E-mail [e-mail]. Year of Publication: 1992 Version Reviewed: 2.1 Materials: four high-density disks (both 3.5" and 5.25" formats);114- page User's Guide;306-page Guide to Standard Mathematica Packages;151-page Mathematica Warning Messages;960-page textbook,Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer,2d ed.,by Stephen Wolfram,(1991,Addison-Wesley,publ.) Price: $795 for enhanced version;$475 for standard version. Standard version is identical but will not support a math coprocessor. Educational and student discounts are available. Machine Specificity: 386-based Pc systems with Windows 3.1;Apple Macintosh;DEC VAX;SunSparc;and other minicomputer platforms. Realtime 3-D is available on IBM RISC platforms. System Requirements: For 386 system: 640K + 4MB RAM,Windows 3.1,VGA or better. Macintosh: 4MB partition,system 7,68020 processor for enhanced version. Effectiveness: Excellent User Friendliness: Excellent Documentation: Excellent

Abstract

Mathematica is not a statistical package. Rather it is the development environment of choice for developing math-based models for financial analysis, economics, management science, data graphics, and similar purposes. Mathematica implements almost a thousand mathematical functions and supports symbolic and graphical computations as well as numerical and is an ideal scientific visualization tool. Mathematica has a built-in programming language and comes with packages for statistics, calculus, linear algebra, geometry, number theory, and other operations. It also interfaces to C and FORTRAN code, MathLink communication, and Notebook interactive documents; and it supports animated graphics, sound, and PostScript output. In summary, Mathematica is a system for representing knowledge in mathematical fields.