1 Introduction to Mathematica

1.1 What is Mathematica?

Mathematica is a computer program (or, more correctly, a system of computer
programs) for performing mathematical operations such as symbolic manipulation,
numerical calculations, graphics, and programming. Mathematica is sometimes described as a computer algebra system, probably in deference to the strong symbolic but somewhat limited numerical capabilities of its earliest versions, but it
has evolved into system that is now a very practical tool for large scale numerical calculations. Its applications can range from simple calculations to complicated
programs, and Mathematica can be a powerful tool for quantitative geoscientists
such as geologists, geographers, geophysicists, hydrologists, and oceanographers.
Because it is a general mathematics system rather than a task-specific application,
however, its utility may not be apparent at first glance. It does not, after all, solve
specific geoscientific problems any more than do programming languages such as
C or FORTRAN or spreadsheet programs. Over the years I have encountered many
geoscientists who know that Mathematica exists, but are not sure what it does with
regard to the specific problems they face in their research or professional practice.
The short answer is that it does nothing geoscientific in particular, but has the potential to do just about anything that a user can imagine. Computational Geosciences
with Mathematica is intended to help fill that gap a by illustrating how Mathematica
can be used to formulate, solve, and visualize a variety of problems of interest to
geoscientists.
Mathematica was first published by Wolfram Research in 1988 and the latest
version, 5.0, was released during Summer 2003. This book was written using versions of Mathematica ranging from 4.1 through 5.0, and care has been taken to
ensure that the examples will work with both version 5.0 and its immediate predecessor, version 4.2. Version 5.0 is available for Windows 98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP
and several versions of the Unix (including Macintosh OS X) and Linux operating
systems. Specialized versions are available for web applications, grid computing
using computer clusters or multiprocessor computers, and student use.
The functionality of Mathematica, which includes many standard packages with
specialized functions in areas such as statistics and graphics, can be expanded with
packages available through Wolfram Research, other commercial sources, or the
public domain. Packages that may be of interest to geoscientists, but which are not
covered in this book, include a database access kit, digital image processing, exper-

1 Introduction to Mathematica

imental data analysis, real time 3-D graphics, fuzzy logic, neural networks, signal
processing, time series analysis, and wavelets. Readers interested in those packages
should contact Wolfram Research for more information about their capabilities and
availability.

1.2 Getting Help

Mathematica offers several kinds of documentation and online help. One source is
The Mathematica Book (Wolfram, 1999), the current edition of which is written
for version 4.0. A paper copy is included with professional (but not student) versions of Mathematica. Mathematica also offers a Help menu that includes a Help
Browser (which can access a digital copy of The Mathematica Book), a ten-minute
tutorial, a hyperlink to a web information center maintained by Wolfram Research
(http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter), and a hyperlink to the general Wolfram Research web site (http://www.wolfram.com). If you know the name of a function,
typing ?function then pressing Enter will return a brief description of the function
with a hyperlink to more information. If you only know part of the function name,
typing a question mark followed at least the first letter of the function name and
then pressing Command-k will return a list of Mathematica functions that match
the letters typed.
There are a number of good introductory books about Mathematica, in particular The Beginners Guide to Mathematica Version 4 (Glynn and Gray, 2000).
Another useful source of information is the comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica newsgroup, which can be accessed through http://groups.google.com. For those wishing
to retain expert help, Wolfram Research maintains a list of accredited Mathematica
consultants.

1.3 Installing and Running Mathematica

Virtually any modern personal computer or workstation should have enough memory and computational speed to run Mathematica although, as with all software, the
more memory and the faster the processor the better. The examples in this book
were all developed using an iMac computer with a 700 MHz G3 processor, 512 Mb
RAM, and Macintosh OS X. Free 30 day trial versions of Mathematica are available
from Wolfram Research (http://www.wolfram.com).
If you are installing Mathematica on your own personal computer, insert the CD
and follow the directions that appear on your screen. Start up Mathematica as you
would any other program. If you are using Mathematica over a computer network,
consult your system administrator or help desk for details.
The Getting Started directory in the Mathematica help browser offers several
introductory lessons that may be useful for first-time users. To access them, select the Help Browser from the Help menu. The Help Browser item Tour includes
a 10 minute introduction that covers many features of Mathematica, and Getting

1.4 How the Book is Organized

Started offers an introduction to entering and executing basic Mathematica commands.

Although it may not be apparent, Mathematica consists of two programs: a kernel that performs calculations and a front end that handles input and output. Although it is possible to use Mathematica with a front end on one computer and the
kernel on another, this book assumes that both are running on the same computer.
When you click on the Mathematica icon, you will start the front end. The first time
you execute a statement from the front end, there will be a short pause while the
kernel starts.
To install the CompGeosci.m package included with this book, copy it from
the CD to one of the directories along Mathematicas default file search path.
This will differ among operating systems and versions. To obtain a list of the default paths, type $Path and press the Enter key. Some of the directories listed
may be accessible only to system administrators on multi-user systems, in which
case the package may have to be installed in a local user library. On the system being used to write this book, the package has been put into the directory
/Users/bill/Library/Mathematica/Applications. Consult your system administrator
or help desk for guidance if you are using a multi-user system.

1.4 How the Book is Organized

Each of the chapters in Computational Geosciences with Mathematica was prepared
as a Mathematica document known as a notebook. Therefore, readers with copies of
Mathematica can open the accompanying digital versions of the chapters and follow
the calculations as they read. Notebooks can contain combinations of text, mathematical input and output, graphics, and even sound. Mathematical variables are generally denoted by italics, whereas Mathematica functions and references to specific
variables within the Mathematica examples are denoted using the same courier
font that Mathematica uses for its default input and output. Appendix A is a list
of Mathematica functions included in the CompGeosci package accompanying this
book and Appendix B (CD only) is an overview of color in Mathematica graphics.
The beginning of each chapter notebook includes a series of Needs statements,
which tell Mathematica which of its standard packages will be used in that notebook. If you are following the examples on your own computer, make sure to execute the Needs statement before any others in the notebook. Many of the examples
in this book make use of data sets contained on the accompanying CD. If you plan
to follow the examples, you can copy the data files to a directory on your hard disk
or access them directly from the CD. You will, however, have to change the file path
given in the examples to correspond to the location on your computer.

1 Introduction to Mathematica

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

1.5.1 Symbolic and Numerical Operations
When Mathematica is started with its default settings, two things appear: a blank
window named Untitled and a Basic Input palette filled with mathematical operators
and Greek letters. Mathematica accepts expressions written either in standard text
or using operators and symbols pasted from the Basic Input palette. To enter an
expression, position the cursor near the top of the blank window, click the mouse to
make it active, type in a simple expression, and press either Enter or Shift-Return.
Using 2/3 as an example, the result is:
In[1]:= 2/3
2
Out[1]=
3

After pressing enter, the intial expression is assigned an input number (in this case 1)
and a corresponding output line is shown immediately below. Mathematica distinguishes between exact integer expressions and approximate numerical expressions,
and therefore returned a value of 2/3 rather than 0.666667. Important irrational numbers such as are also manipulated as symbols unless Mathematica is forced to assign a numerical approximation. Purely symbolic expressions can also be used, for
example
In[2]:= a/b
a
Out[2]=
b

Input and output numbers are reset each time the Mathematica kernel is started.
Therefore, if you start Mathematica, save and close the window, and then open a
new window the input and output numbers will continue in sequence because the
kernel was not restarted.
One of Mathematicas strengths is its ability to perform symbolic manipulation,
for example algebra and calculus. It can find symbolic solutions to many kinds of
equations, for example
In[3]:= Solve
a/b  4, b
a
Out[3]=

b

4

Likewise, the solution to 3 x 7  18 is

In[4]:= Solve
3 x  7  18, x
Out[4]=

x

11

3

Note that multiplication can be specified using an asterisk (3  x), by placing a

space between two variables (3 x), or by using the multiplication operator from the

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

Basic Input palette (3  x). As discussed in Chapter 3, matrix and vector multiplication is slightly more specific and the multiplication operators cannot be switched
indiscriminantly. The same approach works for sets of equations
In[5]:= Solve
2 x  6y  18, 7 x  8 y  7 , x, y 
Out[5]=

x

93
56

,y

29
29

and equations involving real numbers

In[6]:= Solve
a/b  4.0, b
Out[6]= b
0.25 a

Solve is one of Mathematicas standard functions, which all begin with uppercase letters and have arguments enclosed in square brackets. There are hundreds
of standard functions, and hundreds more in packages accompanying the standard
Mathematica distribution. They are listed alphabetically in The Mathematica Book
and can also be viewed using the Help Browser. Mathematica uses curly braces,
 , to enclose lists of expressions or variables such as the lists of two equations and
two variables above. It can also evaluate just about any derivative or integral that
is likely to be included in standard mathematical references. A simple example, the
derivative of x2 with respect to x, is
In[7]:=
x x2
Out[7]= 2 x

Integrating the result to recover the original expression,

In[8]:=
2 xx
Out[8]= x2

The derivative and integral symbols were pasted into the Mathematica notebook by
clicking on the Basic Input palette. If the limits of integration are specified, Mathematica will also calculate a definite integral.
b

In[9]:=

2xx

Out[9]= a2  b2

Say we know the values of a and b. They can be substituted into the result above
using a replacement rule specified with the /. operator. For example, if a  3.0 and
b  7.2
In[10]:= % /. a  3., b  7.2
Out[10]= 42.84

Using the replacement rule evalutes the expression with a  3.0 and b  7.2 only
in this instance, and does not permanently change the value of the expression. The

1 Introduction to Mathematica

% sign is shorthand for the previous output, and %% is shorthand for the output line
before that. Output lines in general can be referenced using either %n or Out
n,
where n is the output line number. Alternatively, the the definite integral could have
been evaluated numerically by using real numbers for the limits of integration.
7.2

In[11]:=

2 xx

3.

Out[11]= 42.84

The  sign is used to permanently assign values to variables. Variables can be numerical values
In[12]:= x  7.2
Out[12]= 7.2

lists or tables of values

In[13]:= data  1.2, 4.6, 9.2, 4.9
Out[13]= 1.2, 4.6, 9.2, 4.9

or the results of operations

In[14]:= solution  Solve
3 z  4.2, z
Out[14]= z
1.4

Once a value is assigned to a variable name, it can be used like any other variable.
For example,
In[15]:=


x

Out[15]= 2.68328

because we previously assigned the value of 7.2 to x. To ensure that it does not
cause confusion further on, we can also clear the value of x.
In[16]:= Clear
x

In can sometimes be desirable to suppress output, which can be done with a semicolon.
In[17]:= sinx  Sin
10.


In this case, a result is calculated and assigned to the variable name sinx but is not
displayed. Entering the variable name will display the result
In[18]:= sinx
Out[18]= 0.173648

Like other computer languages, Mathematica requires angular measurements to be

specified in radians. The built-in variable Degree is a conversion factor (/180)

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

that converts angular measurements in degrees to radians. To convert radians to

degrees, divide by Degree. Mathematica also recognizes commonly used mathematical symbols such as , , , and .
There are several methods that can be used to force Mathematica to return a
numerical approximation of an exact integer. First, an integer expression can be
followed by the expression //N.
In[19]:= 2/3 //N
Out[19]= 0.666667

Another way to force numerical output is to use Mathematicas N function.

In[20]:= N
2/3
Out[20]= 0.666667

A third way to force numerical output is to make at least one of the integers into a
real number by adding a decimal point.
In[21]:= 2/3.
Out[21]= 0.666667

Mathematica will approximate a value for irrational numbers such as

In[22]:= N

Out[22]= 3.14159

or 
In[23]:= N

Out[23]= 2.71828

If asked to give a numerical value for the imaginary number , Mathematica returns
In[24]:= N

Out[24]= 0.  1. 

Mathematicas early versions used text input and output of expressions, but recent versions have included sophisticated mathematical notation and typsetting capabilities. The result is that many Mathematica functions can be specified using
fairly traditional mathematical notation or simple text-only input. For example, the
derivative and integral above can also be expressed as
In[25]:= D
x2, x
Out[25]= 2 x

and

1 Introduction to Mathematica

In[26]:= Integrate
2 x, x
Out[26]= x2

The definite integral of 2 x from a  3.0 to b  7.2 can be specified as

In[27]:= Integrate
2 x, x, 3.0, 7.2 
Out[27]= 42.84

Likewise, the square root of 2.8 can be represented by either

In[28]:=


2.8

Out[28]= 1.67332

or
In[29]:= Sqrt
2.8
Out[29]= 1.67332

or
In[30]:= 2.81/2
Out[30]= 1.67332

Special symbols such as , , and  can be represented using the text equivalents Pi,
I, and E.
1.5.2 Vector and Matrix Operations
Mathematica treats vectors of symbols, integers, and real numbers as lists and matrices as lists of lists. A list of data might be
In[31]:= data  1.2, 4.8, 2.8, 7.2, 9.1, 6.5
Out[31]= 1.2, 4.8, 2.8, 7.2, 9.1, 6.5

whereas one list is used to represent each row of a matrix using a Table.
In[32]:= m  a, b , c, d
Out[32]= a, b, c, d

Elements of lists or tables can be isolated using either Part or double square brackets

. The first element in the second row of m is
In[33]:= Part
m, 2, 1
Out[33]= c

or, equivalently,
In[34]:= m

2, 1
Out[34]= c

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

Matrices can also be filled with values following some functional relationship
by using the Table function.
In[35]:= Table
i  j, i, 1, 3 , j, 1, 3 
Out[35]= 1, 2, 3, 2, 4, 6, 3, 6, 9
In[36]:= MatrixForm
%
1 2 3







Out[36]= 

2 4 6 

3 6 9 

Matrices can be displayed in more traditional form using //MatrixForm or

MatrixForm
.
In[37]:= m// MatrixForm
ab

Out[37]= 
cd

In[38]:= MatrixForm
m
ab

Out[38]= 
cd

They can also be constructed by clicking on the matrix button in the Basic Input
palette. Many of Mathematicas functions are listable, meaning that they can be
applied to lists (or lists of lists). To calculate the square root of each element in
data, for example, apply the square root function to the entire list.
In[39]:=


data

Out[39]= 1.09545, 2.19089, 1.67332, 2.68328, 3.01662, 2.54951

Squaring the list returns the original values.

In[40]:= %2
Out[40]= 1.2, 4.8, 2.8, 7.2, 9.1, 6.5

Chapter 3 discusses mathematical operations on matrices, including dot and cross

products.

10

1 Introduction to Mathematica

1.5.3 2-D and 3-D Graphing

Mathematica contains functions for 2-D and 3-D graphing of functions, lists, and
arrays of data. The following statement plots sin x over the range of 0  x  2 .
In[41]:= Plot
Sin
x, x, 0, 2 
1

0.5

-0.5

-1

Out[41]= -Graphics-

This statement adds a title and labels to the two axes.

In[42]:= Plot
Sin
x, x, 0, 2 , PlotLabel > "Example Plot",
AxesLabel  "x", "sin x" 
sin x

Example Plot

0.5

-0.5

-1

Out[42]= -Graphics-

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

11

A different function, ListPlot, is used for lists of data. If a list of single values is given, for example the list data defined above, ListPlot will assume
that they are dependent variables and that the independent variable has the values
1, 2, 3 . . .
In[43]:= ListPlot
data, PlotStyle > PointSize
0.02

Out[43]= -Graphics-

The dots can be connected using the option PlotJoined  True.

In[44]:= ListPlot
data, PlotJoined  True

Out[44]= -Graphics-

Here is a data list with x and y values.

In[45]:= 1., 0.8 , 2.9, 0.7 , 3.2, 0.7 , 4.2, 0.5
Out[45]= 1., 0.8, 2.9, 0.7, 3.2, 0.7, 4.2, 0.5

12

1 Introduction to Mathematica

In this case, Mathematica plots the first element of each pair as the independent
variable and the second element as the dependent variable.
In[46]:= ListPlot
%, PlotJoined  True
0.8
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55
1.5

2.5

3.5

Out[46]= -Graphics-

Functions of two variables can be visualized as 3-D surface plots, contour plots, or
density plots.
In[47]:= Plot3D
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[47]= -SurfaceGraphics-

As with other Mathematica functions, options can be used to control the details of
the plots. The plot below sets the number of points at which the function is evaluate
to 50 instead of the default value of 25.

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

13

In[48]:= Plot3D
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,

ColorOutput  GrayLevel, PlotPoints  50

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[48]= -SurfaceGraphics-

and this one removes the mesh.

In[49]:= Plot3D
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, Mesh  False

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[49]= -SurfaceGraphics-

The Plot3D default is to shade surfaces using three simulated colored light sources
(rendered here using gray levels; see Appendix C for a detailed discussion of color

14

1 Introduction to Mathematica

and lighting). Setting Lighting  False removes the lighting and shades the
surface according to its height.
In[50]:= Plot3D
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, Lighting  False

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[50]= -SurfaceGraphics-

Setting Shading  False produces a wire-mesh plot and using Hidden

Sur face  False renders the surface transparent.
In[51]:= Plot3D
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, Shading  False,
HiddenSurface  False

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[51]= -SurfaceGraphics-

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

15

To see a complete list of the options available for any Mathematica function, use
Options
function_name.
In[52]:= Options
Plot3D
Out[52]= AmbientLight
GrayLevel 0, AspectRatio
Automatic,
Axes
True, AxesEdge
Automatic, AxesLabel
None,
AxesStyle
Automatic, Background
Automatic,
Boxed
True, BoxRatios
1, 1, 0.4,
BoxStyle
Automatic, ClipFill
Automatic,
ColorFunction
Automatic,
ColorFunctionScaling
True,
ColorOutput
Automatic, Compiled
True,
DefaultColor
Automatic, DefaultFont  $DefaultFont,
DisplayFunction  $DisplayFunction, Epilog
,
FaceGrids
None, FormatType  $FormatType,
HiddenSurface
True, ImageSize
Automatic,
Lighting
True, LightSources
1., 0., 1.,
RGBColor 1, 0, 0, 1., 1., 1.,
RGBColor 0, 1, 0, 0., 1., 1.,
RGBColor 0, 0, 1, Mesh
True,
MeshStyle
Automatic, Plot3Matrix
Automatic,
PlotLabel
None, PlotPoints
25,
PlotRange
Automatic, PlotRegion
Automatic,
Prolog
, Shading
True,
SphericalRegion
False, TextStyle  $TextStyle,
Ticks
Automatic, ViewCenter
Automatic,
ViewPoint
1.3, 2.4, 2.,
ViewVertical
0., 0., 1.

16

1 Introduction to Mathematica

The function ContourPlot works in a similar manner, but with different options.
In[53]:= ContourPlot
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel
6

0
0

Out[53]= -ContourGraphics-

Here is the same function plotted with 3, instead of the default 10, contours.
In[54]:= ContourPlot
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, Contours  3
6

0
0

Out[54]= -ContourGraphics-

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

17

This time, without shading the contour intervals.

In[55]:= ContourPlot
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, ContourShading  False
6

0
0

Out[55]= -ContourGraphics-

Density plots display a function of two variables using continuous shades or colors
instead of contour intervals. Here is one with the default mesh
In[56]:= DensityPlot
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel
6

0
0

Out[56]= -DensityGraphics-

18

1 Introduction to Mathematica

and one without the default mesh.

In[57]:= DensityPlot
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , y, 0, 2 ,
ColorOutput  GrayLevel, Mesh  False
6

0
0

Out[57]= -DensityGraphics-

The functions ListPlot3D, ListContourPlot, and ListDensityPlot

produce similar plots from 2-D matrices or arrays of data. None of these three accept independent values, and the horizontal coordinates are simply row and column
numbers. To illustrate, first fill a table with values of sin x sin y over the ranges
0  x  2 and 0  y  2 , with grid increments of /10. The semi-colon is used
to suppress the output of the resulting table.
In[58]:= Table
Sin
x Sin
y, x, 0, 2 , /10 , y, 0, 2 , /10 

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

19

Then, plot the results using ListPlot3D.

In[59]:= ListPlot3D
%, ColorOutput  GrayLevel

1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1

20
15
10

5
10
5
15
20

Out[59]= -SurfaceGraphics-

To change the horizontal coordinates from row and column numbers, use the
MeshRange option.
In[60]:= ListPlot3D
%%, ColorOutput  GrayLevel,
MeshRange  0, 2 , 0, 2 

1
0.5

0
-0.5
-1
0

2
4
6

Out[60]= -SurfaceGraphics-

20

1 Introduction to Mathematica

1.5.4 User-Defined Functions

Mathematica allows the definition of functions that can range from one-line statements to complicated programs involving logical operations, calculations, and
graphics. A simple example of a function to calculate the square of a numer is:
In[61]:= x2
x_  x2

The combined colon and equal sign, , delays the assignment of the value x2 to x2
until the function is executed, and is therefore different than x2 x2 . Once a function
is defined, it can be used just like any of the built-in Mathematica functions.
In[62]:= x2
9.5
Out[62]= 90.25

An equivalent way to accomplish the same thing is to use the Function function
In[63]:= Function
x2, x2 
Out[63]= Function x2, x2 
In[64]:= x2
5
Out[64]= 25

or, using Mathematica shorthand,

In[65]:= #12 &
Out[65]= #12 &
In[66]:= %
5
Out[66]= 25

The shorthand version can produce very compact programs and is often used by
expert Mathematica programmers, but can also be very difficult for others to read
and understand.
Mathematica contains a variety of functions useful for flow control in longer
programs for example I f, Do, While, and For that can be used for traditional
procedural programming. It also contains functions such as Map and Apply that
can be used for functional programming. Here are four different ways to calculate
the sines of a table of real numbers:
In[67]:= values  Table
x, x, 10.
, 40.
, 10.

Out[67]= 0.174533, 0.349066, 0.523599, 0.698132
In[68]:= Map
Sin, values
Out[68]= 0.173648, 0.34202, 0.5, 0.642788
In[69]:= Sin
values
Out[69]= 0.173648, 0.34202, 0.5, 0.642788

1.5 A Brief Tour of Mathematica

21

In[70]:= Table
Sin
values

i, i, Length
values 

Out[70]= 0.173648, 0.34202, 0.5, 0.642788
In[71]:= Do
values

i  Sin
values

i,
i, Length
values  values
Out[71]= 0.173648, 0.34202, 0.5, 0.642788

Complicated multi-line programs can be built up using the Module function,

which allows for local variables and functions to be defined. Here is a simple application of Module that takes a list of data, determines its length, calculates its mean
and standard deviation, and then returns all three results in a list.
In[72]:= Example
data_ 
Modulelen, mean, dev ,
len  Length
data
len

mean 

1
 data

i
len i1


dev 

1
len  1

len

 data

i  mean2
i1

Return
len, mean, dev 



Using the previously defined list data, the results are:

In[73]:= Example
data
Out[73]= 6, 5.26667, 1.30833

Outside of the module, however, the variables len, mean, and dev have no values.
In[74]:= len, mean, dev
Out[74]= len, mean, dev

1.5.5 Data Import and Export

Mathematica can import and export many common kinds of data and image files.
The general Import function can in most cases recognize file types and make the
appropriate conversions. Import assumes that any file name ending in .dat contains
rows and columns of data. For example, the file example.dat contains four rows each
consisting of four columns of data.
In[75]:= Import
"/Users/bill/Mathematica_Book/example.dat"
Out[75]= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

22

1 Introduction to Mathematica

If List is specified as the file format, however, Mathematica will treat the data as
a single list.
In[76]:= Import
"/Users/bill/Mathematica_Book/example.dat",
"List"
Out[76]= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

The file path name can be pasted into an Import statement by selecting Get File
Path. . . from the Input menu. The same syntax works for graphics files.
In[77]:= Import
"/Users/bill/Mathematica_Book/pako.jpg"
Out[77]= -Graphics-

Using the syntax above, Mathematica will use the file suffix to identify the file format. See the Mathematica documentation for information on files without suffixes.
Graphics files do not appear until they are specifically shown using the Show function.
In[78]:= Show
%

Out[78]= -Graphics-

The Export function works similarly to the Import function except that both an
expression (the data or image to be exported) and a file name must be specified.
1.5.6 Mathematica Packages
Mathematica functions and programs can be stored as text files known as packages
and loaded when needed. The standard distribution of Mathematica includes dozens
of packages with special functions for algebra, calculus, graphics, linear algebra, numerical mathematics, and statistics. To see a complete list of the standard packages
accompanying Mathematica, bring up the Help Browser window, choose Add-ons

1.6 References and Recommended Reading

23

& Links in the far left column, then Standard Packages in the middle column. The
right column will contain a list of directories, each of which contains several addon packages that can be loaded whenever they are needed. Additional packages are
available from Wolfram Research, from other commercial developers, and in the
public domain (generally downloadable from the internet). This book includes a
package named CompGeosci, which contains a number of functions for specialized
plots and calculations as well as color functions that are useful for color graphics.
Users can also write their own packages, although the details of package writing are
beyond the scope of this book.
Mathematica packages can be loaded in two ways. The first is to use
<< package_name, which loads the specified package. This is generally not
the recommended method because problems can arise if a package is loaded
more than once during a Mathematica session. The preferred method is to use
Needs
package_name, which loads parts of the package as needed and will not
load part of a package more than once.
Package names can be specified either using their complete file path or, if they
are located along one of Mathematicas default file paths, using their directory (context in Mathematica terms) and package name. For example, to load the package
DescriptiveStatistics from the Statistics directory (context) located along one of the
default file paths, enter
In[79]:= Needs
"StatisticsDescriptiveStatistics"

Note that the `character is not a single quotation mark! It is the character located
beneath the tilde (~) character in the upper left hand corner of most keyboards.To
see a listing of the default file path for the installation of Mathematica on your
computer,type $Path and press Enter.To see a list of the packages that have been
loaded during a given Mathematica session, type $Packages and press Enter.

1.6 References and Recommended Reading

Glynn, J. and Gray, T., 2000, The Beginners Guide to Mathematica Version 4: Cambridge
University Press.
Wolfram, S., 1999, The Mathematica Book (4th ed.): Cambridge University Press.

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