Mathematica
Mathematica 4.2, Stephen Wolfram's package for performing symbolic and numerical calculations and graphics, is now available on ACS. Because Mathematica is a graphics-intensive application, it should be run on a PC using X-Win32 or a workstation.
To invoke Mathematica, from a PC in the 111 Cummington Street terminal room, click on the desktop X-Win32, connect to acs.bu.edu, and type mathematica at the shell prompt.
To invoke the non-graphical interface to Mathematica, type: math at the shell prompt.
Common problems
If you are using an X Window System workstation or X terminal,
and Mathematica gives you only character-based terminal
graphics, make sure that you have set the following conditions:
- setenv TERM xterm
-
defines your shell TERM environment variable to xterm
- setenv DISPLAY terminalname:0.0
- defines your shell DISPLAY environment variable where terminalname is the name identifying your X terminal or workstation.
Getting help with common errors
The ErrorHelp.m function has been installed on the ACS cluster
to assist you with debugging your Mathematica code.
To invoke the ErrorHelp function type: ErrorHelp[] at the Mathematica prompt.
For further help using Mathematica, contact a consultant at the Consulting Services Help Desk in the basement of Information Technology, 111 Cummington Street.
References
- Mathematica man page; type: man math at the ACS prompt.
- The Mathematica Book, Fifth Edition, by Stephen Wolfram. The Mathematica book is available for 3-day loan through the Reserve Desk at the Science and Engineering Library.
