Mathematica: The Smart Approach to Engineering Education

Finally, a Computer Tool That Makes Sense for Engineering Education

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Although the computer has changed virtually every aspect of engineering practice, effective integration of today's powerful computer tools into the undergraduate engineering curriculum continues to be an enormous challenge. Forcing students to learn a new program or a set of programs for each course is inefficient and places a great strain on already limited classroom time. Faculty time spent learning to use such tools is taken away from other teaching and research responsibilities. For computer use to be effective in undergraduate education, engineering colleges require a certain economy of scale. The ideal solution would be to find a single, unified platform that is simple enough for computer novices, powerful enough to keep pace with the demands of graduate education and research, and comprehensive enough to be of use across all of the engineering disciplines. In other words, the ideal solution is Mathematica.

A Complete Solution

Mathematica offers a complete, unified solution for symbolic math, numerical computation, equation solving, matrix manipulations, graphing, word processing, and presentation. There is only one system for students and faculty to learn, a system that can follow your students through their undergraduate and graduate engineering curricula, while still supporting even the most sophisticated faculty and industry research. Mathematica acts as a teaching tool, an invitation to explore, and an opportunity to build on the intuitive understanding of methods and processes that is the hallmark of a good engineer. Here are some key Mathematica features for engineering education: Powerful visualization and computational tools Fast and accurate numerical calculations Flexible programming language Sophisticated technical typesetting tools Full cross-platform compatibility Advanced import and export facilities, including Excel files Connectivity with other systems through MathLink Extensive collection of add-on packages for engineering applications

An Eye on the Future

Mathematica is designed with an eye on the future of the electronic campus. Notebooks can easily be converted to HTML or MathML format--complete with graphics and full mathematical notation--for easy web publication. In addition, webMathematica, a new web-based technology, makes Mathematica an eminently suitable platform for distance learning. With Mathematica, you can also give your students valuable experience with a real-world tool used in the development of countless products and applications in a wide variety of industries. For example, Dr. Frank Kampas, a senior staff engineer for the Lockheed Martin Astronautics Company, used Mathematica for probabilistic risk assessment on NASA's Cassini Orbiter mission. Kampas and his coworkers determined the risks associated with the Cassini spacecraft's RTGs (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators), which produce electricity from the heat generated by radioactive decay. Simulation programs and probability equations were essential to the work. Even though Kampas ran most final-version programs in Fortran, Mathematica played a crucial role. "I used Mathematica mostly for postprocessing. It's a very compact, powerful programming language that lets me organize and plot my data before I convert to Fortran," Kampas said.

Only Mathematica lets you do all this in a single, unified environment.