Math 1b Mathematica Applets, Fall 2011
During the semester, we will ask you to use some Mathematica
applets for exploration. You will not need to know
Mathematica to use the applets.
Installing Mathematica on your computer
If you would like to install Mathematica on your computer,
follow the instructions on the following link under 'Mathematica':
downloads.fas.harvard.edu/.
If you prefer not to install Mathematica yourself, it is
available on computers in many computer labs on campus.
Applets
Here are some applets for you to use. (If you have trouble
opening them, please right-click on the links and save them
to your computer first. Also, the first time you use an
applet, Mathematica may ask you whether you want to "Enable
Dynamic"; you do.)
- FunctionGrapher.nb allows you to graph up to 6 functions.
- FunctionPlotterEvaluator.nb allows you to graph up to 6
functions and evaluate them at a particular number.
- FiniteSumTable.nb looks at sums where you're summing from
something to n. The applet will evaluate the sum for all values of n up to 100.
- TaylorPolynomialGrapher.nb allows you to enter a function,
together with its general Taylor polynomial approximation, and see
graphs of the function together with the Taylor polynomial approximations.
- FiniteSum.nb will give you a decimal approximation of
any finite sum that you enter in summation notation.
- RearrangeAlternatingHarmonic.nb - One of the odd features of
conditionally convergent series (such as the alternating harmonic series) is that you can rearrange the terms to get a series with a
different sum. This applet shows how that happens.
- SlopeFieldAndFunctionGrapher.nb - This applet graphs a slope field and a function.
Mathematica is picky about how you enter functions. Here are
some useful references:
In our applets, once you're done entering an expression,
Mathematica will try to reformat it, which should help you find any
mistakes.