1. Intro to Mathematica

2. Wolfram Mathematica
An important feature of Mathematica is its ability to manipulate symbols
It also allows for numerical solutions and data visualization.
It’s not free. You will probably have to come to class to work on it.

3. Start/All Programs/Wolfram Mathematica 11. 1. 1/Wolfram Mathematica 11

4. Click on New Document

5. Use Shift+Enter to distinguish something to be evaluated versus just explanatory text
I did not type In[1]: and the whole Out[1] line was generated for me
Excel and R would require a*t for us to represent the variable a multiplied by the variable t, in Mathematica a space is enough

6. vf == vi + a t In Mathematica and equation requires two equal signs.
The expression a t means a multiplied by t and can also be written as a*t. Without a space at would be a new symbol.
The symbol vf stands for the final velocity
The symbol vi stands for the initial velocity
The symbol a stands for the acceleration which is constant for this scenario
The symbol t stands for time

7. Save it!

8. Mathematica can solve (symbolically) the equation for the variable t.
That’s just where my cursor happened to be
Be careful about just blindly copying what I have without thinking about it. If you had made a typo and then re-entered the formula, then the equation you want to solve might be some other Out – e.g. Out[392]

9. Enter the second kinematics equation
Again note the spaces.

10. Use /. (ReplaceAll) to substitute in the first kinematics equation solved for time into the second kinematics equation
Again watch the numbers, yours might be different. And if you close Mathematica (completely) and rerun your notebook the numbers might be different than they were previously

11. Using Expand

12. Assign values to symbols to determine a numerical solution
If the acceleration is -9.8 m/s^2
And the initial velocity is 15m/s and initial height is zero
What is the “final” position when the final velocity is 0 (i.e. the highest height)?