1.1 Starting Mathematica

When we start Mathematica a fresh window, or notebook, will open. This is where we will do all of our mathematical calculations and graphics. At the top of the window we see the title of the window, which initially is "untitled-1." Later, when we see how to save our work as a file, we can give a name to the file, and that name will appear in the title bar of the window.

1.2 Entering Expressions

Let's do our first calculation! If we type 1+1 and then press Shift+Return (i.e., hold down the Shift key and then the Return key) ^[1] Mathematica computes the sum and places the answer on the next line in the window. This is called evaluating or entering the expression. The window now contains

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Notice that Mathematica has placed " In[1]:=" and " Out[1]=" labels to the left of 1+1 and 2, respectively. To the right of the input and output, Mathematica has placed a set of brackets. The two innermost brackets enclose the input and output, respectively, and the larger bracket groups the input and output together. Each bracket contains what is known as a cell. All of the calculations that we do in this notebook will be organized into cells and the brackets that surround the cells will come...