General Help for using Calculus & Mathematica

General Help for beginners

1. All lessons in Mathematica are broken up into 3 sections.
   For example, if you are on Lesson 4.01 Splines, the lesson has
   • a "Basics" section
     • Introduces you to the basic math principles in this section.
   • a "Tutorials" section
     • Gives sample problems and their correct answers.
   • and a "Give it a Try" section
     • Contains the problems you will hand-in to be graded.

   Note: In the Basics and Tutorials sections, some parts of the written material (like the answers) are "minimized" in small boxes on the far right side of the screen. To open these boxes, move your mouse over the boxes until it changes to a <--| and then double click.

   Also, in a Mathematica "notebook", there contains 3 types of "cells". There are "text" cells which contain stuff like the title of a section, the description of a problem, and your explanation of how you did a problem. There are also "input" cells. The words in these cells are of a bold typeface and look like "computer code". These are the cells that Mathematica will read, evaluate, and then output an answer (if the code "says" to output an answer) to the third type of cell. These "output" cells contain answers to "input" cells and can NOT be edited.
   To evaluate the "input" cells, move your mouse anywhere inside an "input" cell and click once to get your cursor into that cell. Now, either hold down the "Shift" key and press "Return", or simply press the "Enter" key on the far right bottom of the keyboard. Note: the "Return" key and the "Enter" key are different keys.

2. When starting a new lesson, the best thing to do is to read all of the Basics section first. Even if you do not understand the material (or the point it is trying to make); at least read it once so that you have a general idea what this lesson is like.

3. After reading the Basics, open up the Tutorials. Read at least a few of these sample problems and make sure you follow their logic in doing these problems. Once you feel confident (or bored) doing some of these sample problems, it is time to write down your assignment and open up the Give It A Try section.

4. The things I do when starting the Give It A Try section are as follows:
   
   1. Write my name at the very top of the assignment. (See tip VII. if you are unsure about how to do this)
   2. With my list of problems I have to do for this assignment next to me, I "Cut" out all the problems I do NOT have to do. To "Cut" a large section out of your "notebook",
      • Highlight the bracket(s) on the far right side of your screen (of the sections you want to delete) by clicking and dragging your mouse over them.
      • Now, open the Edit menu on top of the screen and select Cut.
   3. The third thing I do is save my "file" for the first time. To Save your file for the first time, here is what you do:
      1. Make sure that the "file" I want to save is "active" by clicking once, anywhere in its "window".
      2. Open up the File menu at the top of the screen, and select Save As.
      3. In the new window that has popped up, click the "Desktop" button (on the right side of the window).
      4. Click on the "Hard Drive" which will be labeled something like "IH-MAC42" (should be on the upper left side of the window).
      5. Click the "Open" button (bottom right).
      6. Now, just type a name in for you "file". Example: BobandMary.4.02
      7. Click on the "Save" button to finish.
      8. Note: Your "file" is now on the computer's "hard drive", to see your file, double click on the icon that represents the computer's "hard drive" which should be on the upper right side of the screen (you may have to "minimize" some windows if you don't see this icon).

5. There are 2 approaches to problems that I take. The first approach is: I read the problem, remember what I read in the Basics, and type in the answer. I use this approach, on average, between 0 and 2 times in a lesson.

6. The most common approach to a problem is what I call: Copy & Paste. Here are the basic steps in this method.
   1. Read the problem. Look for key words that would be unique to this type of problem. Most importantly, figure out what information they give you, and exactly what they want for an answer.
   2. Open the Basics and/or Tutorials, and find a sample problem that is closely related to your current problem. Look for key words.
   3. Read and understand this sample problem that is related to your current problem.
   4. Copy the text in the "input" cells of this sample problem, and Paste them at the bottom of your current problem.

      To Copy & Paste, here is what you do:
      

      1. Highlight the text you want to Copy by holding down the mouse button and dragging your mouse until you have highlighted what you want.
      2. Open the Edit menu on the top of the screen and select Copy.
      3. Position your cursor where you want to insert your copied text.
      4. Open the Edit menu again, and this time select Paste.

   5. Change the numbers and/or variables and/or functions so that the copied text is correct for your current problem.
   6. From here, you may have to do more, like finding more "code" to Copy from another problem. But by now, the problem should be almost done.
   7. The last step is to give an explanation of what you did. Always give an explanation! Your explanation is normally the most heavly graded part of a problem. Even if the question does not ask a specific question, write one small sentence on what you did.

7. To type something into your mathematica notebook, just position your cursor in a cell (except for an "output" cell) and start typing. If you want to create a new cell (recomended) move your mouse between two existing cells until your mouse pointer looks like |---|
   Click your mouse once and start typing. The default cell type is an "input" cell. If you want to change the cell type to a "text" cell (like for an explanation of a your solution), here is what you do.
   1. Select your cell by moving your mouse to the right side of the window and click on the inner bracket that is defining your cell.
   2. Open the Format menu on the top of the screen.
   3. Select "Style" (at the very top) then "Text" from this menu.

   You can also change the color of your text by a similar method.

   1. Highlight the text you want to change, like you do to Copy something.
   2. From the Format menu, select "Text Color" and then the color of your choice

8. To Save your file (make sure you have done tip IV. part 3. at some time before you do these steps!!)
   1. Open up the File menu and select Save.
   2. The new window should show the location of your file; click "Save", and your are done.

9. To copy your file to a disk, once you have saved it and closed its window:

   Note: You can also use Fetch to store your homework, instead of a floppy disk.

   1. Find the location of your file. If you have followed the tips above, it should be on the "hard drive"; open up the "hard drive" by double-clicking on its icon which is the first icon on the upper-right side of the screen.
   2. Insert your disk, if you haven't done so already.
   3. Click on your file, and drag it on-top-of your disk icon. (The disk icon will change color when the file you are dragging is on top of it.)
   4. After a window briefly appears that shows the progress of the coping procedure, eject your disk by clicking and dragging your disk to the "Trash" icon.

10. To resume working on a file on your floppy disk:
    1. Insert your disk.
    2. Open your disk's window by double clicking on your new disk icon. (if the window hasn't opened automatically)
    3. Drag the file you want, and drop it on the "hard drive" (the first icon in upper-right of the screen).
    4. Optional step: Eject your disk; do so by dragging your disk icon, and dropping it on the "Trash" icon.
    5. Double-click on the "hard drive" icon.
    6. Double-click on your "file" to begin Mathematica.
    • Note: To be on the safe side, whenever you start using a new computer, make sure that Mathematica or Mathematica Kernal is NOT running. You can check this by clicking and holding on the "apple" on the very top-right of the screen; this will display every program that is running. To quit a program, select it from this menu. Open up the file menu and select quit. Repeat this procedure to quit more programs.