Wolfram Mathematica (usually termed Mathematica) is a modern technical computing system

spanning most areas of technical computing — including neural networks, machine learning, image

processing, geometry, data science, visualizations, and others. The system is used in many
technical, scientific, engineering, mathematical, and computing fields. It was conceived by Stephen
Wolfram and is developed by Wolfram Research of Champaign, Illinois.[7][8] The Wolfram Language is
the programming language used in Mathematica.[9]

Contents

 1The Notebook interface

 2High-performance computing
 3Features
 4Deployment
 5Connections to other applications, programming languages, and services
 6Computable data
 7Reception
 8Version history
 9See also
 10References
 11External links

The Notebook interface[edit]

Wolfram Mathematica is split into two parts, the kernel and the front end. The kernel interprets
expressions (Wolfram Language code) and returns result expressions, which can then be displayed
by the front end.
The front end, designed by Theodore Gray[10] in 1988, provides a graphical user interface (GUI),
which allows the creation and editing of Notebook documents[11] containing program code
with Syntax highlighting, formatted text together with results including typeset mathematics,
graphics, GUI components, tables, and sounds. All content and formatting can be generated
algorithmically or edited interactively. Standard word processing capabilities are supported, including
real-time multi-lingual spell-checking.
Documents can be structured using a hierarchy of cells, which allow for outlining and sectioning of a
document and support automatic numbering index creation. Documents can be presented in a
slideshow environment for presentations. Notebooks and their contents are represented as
Mathematica expressions that can be created, modified or analyzed by Mathematica programs or
converted to other formats.
Presenter tools support the creation of slide-show style presentations that support interactive
elements and code execution during the presentation.
Among the alternative front ends is the Wolfram Workbench, an Eclipse based integrated
development environment (IDE), introduced in 2006. It provides project-based code development
tools for Mathematica, including revision management, debugging, profiling, and testing.[12] There is a
plugin for IntelliJ IDEA based IDEs to work with Wolfram Language code which in addition to syntax
highlighting can analyse and auto-complete local variables and defined functions.[13] The
Mathematica Kernel also includes a command line front end.[14] Other interfaces include JMath,
[15]
 based on GNU readline and WolframScript[16] which runs self-contained Mathematica programs
(with arguments) from the UNIX command line.

High-performance computing[edit]
Capabilities for high-performance computing were extended with the introduction of packed arrays in
version 4 (1999)[17] and sparse matrices (version 5, 2003),[18] and by adopting the GNU Multi-Precision
Library to evaluate high-precision arithmetic.
Version 5.2 (2005) added automatic multi-threading when computations are performed on multi-
core computers.[19] This release included CPU-specific optimized libraries.[20] In addition Mathematica
is supported by third party specialist acceleration hardware such as ClearSpeed.[21]
In 2002, gridMathematica was introduced to allow user level parallel programming on heterogeneous
clusters and multiprocessor systems[22] and in 2008 parallel computing technology was included in all
Mathematica licenses including support for grid technology such as Windows HPC Server
2008, Microsoft Compute Cluster Server and Sun Grid.
Support for CUDA and OpenCL GPU hardware was added in 2010.[23] Also, since version 8 it can
generate C code, which is automatically compiled by a system C compiler, such
as GCC or Microsoft Visual Studio.
In 2019 support was added for compiling Wolfram Language code to LLVM.[24]

Features[edit]
Features of Wolfram Mathematica include:[25]

 Libraries of mathematical elementary functions and special functions including Number

theory function and combinatoric functions
 Support for complex number, arbitrary precision arithmetic, interval arithmetic, numbers with
uncertainty censored data, temporal data, time series, and unit based data, and symbolic
computation
 Matrix and data manipulation tools including support for sparse arrays and associative arrays
 2D and 3D data, function and geo visualization and animation tools
 Solvers for systems of equations, diophantine equations, ordinary differential
equations (ODEs), non-linear partial differential equations (PDEs), differential algebraic
equations (DAEs), delay differential equations (DDEs), stochastic differential equations (SDEs),
and recurrence relations
 Finite element analysis including 2D and 3D adaptive mesh generation
 Numeric and symbolic tools for discrete and continuous calculus including continuous and
discrete integral transforms
 Constrained and unconstrained local and global optimization
 Multivariate statistics libraries including fitting, hypothesis testing, and probability and
expectation calculations on over 160 distributions.
 Calculations and simulations on random processes and queues
 Supervised and unsupervised machine learning tools for data, images and sounds
including artificial neural networks
 Tools for text mining including regular expressions, semantic analysis, sentiment analysis
and fact extraction
 Data mining tools such as cluster analysis, sequence alignment and pattern matching
 Computational geometry in 2D, 3D and higher dimensions and Euclid-style 2D geometry
 Libraries for signal processing including wavelet analysis on sounds, images and data
 Audio processing filters and measures including audio recognition
 Tools for 2D and 3D image processing[26] and morphological image
processing including image recognition
 Tools for visualizing and analysing directed and undirected graphs
 Tools for cryptography including symmetric and asymmetric keys, hashing and elliptic curve
cryptography
 Tools for financial calculations including bonds, annuities, derivatives, options etc.
 Group theory and symbolic tensor functions
 Tools for Automated theorem proving
 Linear and non-linear control system libraries
 Microcontroller kit for giving symbolic specifications from which it automatically generates
and deploys code to run autonomously in microcontrollers.
 Tools for computational chemistry including bond length and angle calculations and
databases of chemical properties
 Programming language supporting procedural, functional, object-oriented constructs and
parallel programming
 Toolkit for adding user interfaces to calculations and applications
 Tools for creating and deploying cloud based computational applications and services
 Tools to connect to dynamic-link library (DLL), Java, .NET, C++, Fortran, CUDA, OpenCL,
and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based systems
 Using both "free-form linguistic input" (a natural language user interface)[27][28] and Wolfram
Language in notebook when connected to the Internet

Deployment[edit]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
There are several ways to deploy applications written in Wolfram Mathematica:

 Mathematica Player Pro is a runtime version of Mathematica that will run any Mathematica
application but does not allow editing or creation of the code.[29]
 A free-of-charge version, Wolfram CDF Player, is provided for running Mathematica
programs that have been saved in the Computable Document Format (CDF).[30] It can also view
standard Mathematica files, but not run them. It includes plugins for common web browsers on
Windows and Macintosh.
 webMathematica allows a web browser to act as a front end to a remote Mathematica
server. It is designed to allow a user-written application to be remotely accessed via a browser
on any platform. It may not be used to give full access to Mathematica. Due to bandwidth
limitations interactive 3D graphics is not fully supported within a web browser.
 Wolfram Language code can be converted to C code or to an automatically generated DLL.
 Wolfram Language code can be run on a Wolfram cloud service as a web-app or as an API
either on Wolfram-hosted servers or in a private installation of the Wolfram Enterprise Private
Cloud.

Connections to other applications, programming

languages, and services[edit]
Communication with other applications occurs through a protocol called Wolfram Symbolic Transfer
Protocol (WSTP). It allows communication between the Wolfram Mathematica kernel and front-end,
and also provides a general interface between the kernel and other applications.[31] Wolfram
Research freely distributes a developer kit for linking applications written in the programming
language C to the Mathematica kernel through WSTP. Using J/Link.,[32] a Java program can ask
Mathematica to perform computations; likewise, a Mathematica program can load Java classes,
manipulate Java objects, and perform method calls. Similar functionality is achieved with .NET /Link,
[33]
 but with .NET programs instead of Java programs. Other languages that connect to Mathematica
include Haskell,[34] AppleScript,[35] Racket,[36] Visual Basic,[37] Python,[38][39] and Clojure.[40]
Mathematica supports the generation and execution of Modelica models for Systems modeling and
connects with Wolfram System Modeler.
Links are available to many third party software packages including OpenOffice.org Calc,[41] Microsoft
Excel,[42] MATLAB,[43][44][45] R,[46] SageMath (which can also pull up Mathematica),[47][48][49][50] Singular,
[51]
 Wolfram SystemModeler, and Origin.[52] It also links to the Unity game engine and the OpenAI
Gym. Mathematical equations can be exchanged with other computational or typesetting software
via MathML.
Mathematica includes interfaces to SQL databases (via Java Database Connectivity JDBC),
[53]
 MongoDB, and it can access RDF graph databases via SPARQL. It can read and write to
Multichain and Bitcoin Blockchains. Mathematica can also install web services from a Web Services
Description Language (WSDL) description.[54][55] It can access HDFS data via Hadoop.[56].
Mathematica can call a variety of cloud services to retrieve or send data
including ArXiv, Bing, ChemSpider, CrossRef, Dropbox, Facebook, Factual, Federal
Reserve, Fitbit, Flickr, Google (Analytics, Calendar, Contacts, Custom search, Plus, search,
translate), Instagram, LinkedIn, MailChimp, Microsoft
Translator, Mixpanel, OpenLibrary, OpenPHACTS, PubChem, PubMed, Reddit, RunKeeper, SeatGe
ek, SurveyMonkey, Twilio, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Yelp.[57]
Mathematica can capture real-time data via a link to LabVIEW,[58] from financial data feeds,[59] and
directly from hardware devices via GPIB (IEEE 488),[60] USB,[61] and serial interfaces.[62] It
automatically detects and reads from devices following the HID USB protocol. It can read directly
from a range of Vernier sensors that are Go!Link-compatible.[63]
Mathematica can read and write to public blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ARK).[64]
It supports import and export of over 220 data, image, video, sound, computer-aided
design (CAD), geographic information systems (GIS),[65] document, and biomedical formats

Computable data[edit]

A stream plot of live weather data

Wolfram Mathematica includes collections of curated data provided for use in computations.
Mathematica is also integrated with Wolfram Alpha, an online computational knowledge answer
engine which provides additional data, some of which is kept updated in real time. Some of the data
sets include astronomical, chemical, geopolitical, language, biomedical and weather data, in addition
to mathematical data (such as knots and polyhedra).[66]

Reception[edit]
BYTE in 1989 listed Mathematica as among the "Distinction" winners of the BYTE Awards, stating
that it "is another breakthrough Macintosh application ... it could enable you to absorb the algebra
and calculus that seemed impossible to comprehend from a textbook".[67]

Version history[edit]
Mathematica version history

Wolfram Mathematica built on the ideas in Cole and Wolfram's earlier Symbolic Manipulation
Program (SMP).[68][69] The name of the program "Mathematica" was suggested to Stephen Wolfram by
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs although Wolfram had thought about it earlier and rejected it.[70]
Wolfram Research has released the following versions of Mathematica:[71]

 1.0 – June 23, 1988[72][73][74][75]

 1.1 – October 31, 1988
 1.2 – August 1, 1989[75][76]
 2.0 – January 15, 1991[75][77]
 2.1 – June 15, 1992[75]
 2.2 – June 1, 1993[75][78]
 3.0 – September 3, 1996[79]
 4.0 – May 19, 1999[75][80]
 4.1 – November 2, 2000[75]
 4.2 – November 1, 2002[75]
 5.0 – June 12, 2003[75][81]
 5.1 – October 25, 2004[75][82]
 5.2 – June 20, 2005[75][83]
 6.0 – May 1, 2007[84][85]
 7.0 – November 18, 2008[86]
 8.0 – November 15, 2010[87]
 9.0 – November 28, 2012[88]
 10.0 – July 9, 2014[89]
 10.1 – March 30, 2015[90]
 10.2 – July 14, 2015[91]
 10.3 – October 15, 2015
 10.4 – March 2, 2016
 11.0.0 – August 8, 2016[92]
 11.0.1 – September 28, 2016
 11.1 – March 16, 2017[93]
 11.1.1 – April 25, 2017
 11.2 – September 14, 2017[94]
 11.3 – March 8, 2018[95]
 12.0 – April 16, 2019[96]
 12.1 - March 18, 2020[97]

See also[edit]
 Comparison of multi-paradigm programming languages
 Comparison of numerical analysis software
 Comparison of programming languages
 Comparison of regular expression engines
 Computational X
 Dynamic programming language
 Fourth-generation programming language
 Functional programming
 List of computer algebra systems
 List of computer simulation software
 List of graphing software
 Literate programming
 Mathematical markup language
 Mathematical software
 Wolfram Alpha, a web answer engine
 Wolfram Language
 Wolfram SystemModeler, a physical modeling and simulation tool which integrates with
Mathematica

References[edit]
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May  2012
2. ^ "Mathematica Quick Revision History". Retrieved 2019-04-16.
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5. ^ Raspberry Pi Includes Mathematica for Free The Verge
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10. ^ Patent US8407580 Google Patent Search
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12. ^ "Wolfram intros Workbench IDE for Mathematica". Macworld. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 11
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13. ^ Mathematica plugin for IntelliJ IDEA
14. ^ Using a Text-Based Interface documentation at wolfram.com
15. ^ "JMath: A GNU Readline based frontend for Mathematica". Retrieved 11 August  2015.
16. ^ "Directory listing:". Retrieved 18 April  2019.
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solving nonlinear differential equations and converting units by Agnes Shanley, Chemical
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18. ^ Mathematica 5.1: additional features make software well-suited for operations research
professionals by ManMohan S. Sodhi, OR/MS Today, December 1, 2004.
19. ^ The 21st annual Editors' Choice Awards, Macworld, February 1, 2006.
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21. ^ "ClearSpeed Advance Accelerator Boards Certified by Wolfram Research; Math
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24. ^ "Create LLVM code". Retrieved 13 April  2020.
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2009
27. ^ "The Free-Form Linguistics Revolution in Mathematica". Retrieved  11 August 2015.
28. ^ "Free-Form Linguistic Input". Retrieved 11 August  2015.
29. ^ Mathematica Player Pro - new Application Delivery System for
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30. ^ "Computable Document Format (CDF) for Interactive Content". Retrieved 11 August2015.
31. ^ Wolfram Symbolic Transfer Protocol (WSTP)
32. ^ Mathematica 4.2 Archived 2007-11-21 at the Wayback Machine by Charles
Seiter, Macworld, November 1, 2002.
33. ^ .NET/Link: .NET/Link is a toolkit that integrates Mathematica and the Microsoft .NET
Framework.
34. ^ "mathlink: Write Mathematica packages in Haskell - Hackage". Retrieved  11 August2015.
35. ^ S.Kratky.  "MathLink for AppleScript". Retrieved 11 August  2015.
36. ^ "MrMathematica: Calling Mathematica from Scheme". Retrieved  11 August 2015.
37. ^ "Mathematica for ActiveX - from Wolfram Library Archive". Retrieved  11 August 2015.
38. ^ "erocarrera/pythonika".  GitHub. Retrieved 11 August  2015.
39. ^ "PYML (Python Mathematica interface) - from Wolfram Library Archive". Retrieved 11
August 2015.
40. ^ "Clojuratica - Home". Clojuratica.weebly.com. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
41. ^ CalcLink Lauschke Consulting
42. ^ "Mathematica Link for Excel: Bringing the Power of Mathematica to Excel". Retrieved  11
August 2015.
43. ^ R. Menon, Sz. Horvát.  "MATLink". Retrieved 11 August  2015.
44. ^ Ben Barrowes (10 June 2010).  "Mathematica Symbolic Toolbox for MATLAB–Version 2.0".
Retrieved  11 August 2015.
45. ^ "MaMa: Calling MATLAB from Mathematica with MathLink - from Wolfram Library Archive".
Retrieved  11 August 2015.
46. ^ RLink Mathematica Documentation
47. ^ Gourgoulhon, Eric; Bejger, Michal; Mancini, Marco (21 Dec 2014). "Tensor calculus with
open-source software: the SageManifolds project". Journal of Physics: Conference Series.  600:
012002.  arXiv:1412.4765.  Bibcode:2015JPhCS.600a2002G.  doi:10.1088/1742-6596/600/1/012002.
48. ^ "Interface to Mathematica - Sage Reference Manual v7.4: Interpreter
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49. ^ "Using Mathematica within Sagemath | LSUMath".  www.math.lsu.edu. Retrieved  2017-01-
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50. ^ Pruim, Randall (5 May 2010).  "Can Sage replace Maple and Mathematica?"  (PDF).  Calvin
College. Retrieved  8 Jan  2016.
51. ^ Manuel Kauers and Viktor Levandovskyy of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, in Austria
52. ^ * Interface Links Origin And Mathematica Software Archived 2007-03-20 at the Wayback
Machine Electronic Design
53. ^ Mathematica 5.1 Available, Database Journal, Jan 3, 2005.
54. ^ Mathematical Web Services: W3C Note 1 August 2003
55. ^ Introduction to Web Services, Mathematica Web Services Tutorial
56. ^ "shadanan/HadoopLink". GitHub. Retrieved  11 August 2015.
57. ^ Wolfram Language Documentation Yelp service Cconnection
58. ^ Mathematica Link to Labview BetterView Consulting
59. ^ DDFLink Lauschke Consulting
60. ^ GITM SourceForge. Note that the GITM project currently (as of 2014-08-03) has no
downloadable artefacts and appears to be inactive so GPIB support for Mathematica may not actually
exist.
61. ^ BTopTools A commercial interface to USB devices
62. ^ "Interfacing Hardware with Mathematica - from Wolfram Library Archive". Retrieved  11
August 2015.
63. ^ Vernier and Mathematica
64. ^ "Working with blockchains". Retrieved  15 April 2020.
65. ^ Mathematica 6 Labs Review Cadalyst Feb 1, 2008
66. ^ "Scientific and Technical Data", Mathematic Guide, Wolfram Research, archived from  the
original  on 10 May 2012, retrieved 16 May 2012
67. ^ "The BYTE Awards".  BYTE. January 1989. p.  327.
68. ^ Math, the universe, and Stephen: the author of Mathematica created a whirlwind of scientific
controversy this year when, after more than 10 years of research, he published his treatise on the
 ability of simple structures to create unpredictable complex patterns. (2002 Scientist Of The Year).
(Stephen Wolfram) by Tim Studt, R&D, November 1, 2002.
69. ^ A Top Scientist's Latest: Math Software by Andrew Pollack, The New York Times, June 24,
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70. ^ Wolfram, Stephen (6 Oct 2011),  Steve Jobs: A Few Memories, Wolfram Alpha, retrieved 16
May  2012
71. ^ "Mathematica Latest Version and Quick Revision History". Retrieved  11 August 2015.
72. ^ Mathematica: The Scrapbook, Wolfram, archived from the original  on 18 May 2012,
retrieved  16 May  2012
73. ^ "The Mathematica Journal: Volume 9, Issue 1: News Bulletins". Retrieved 11 August2015.
74. ^ Supercomputer Pictures Solve the Once Insoluble, John Markoff, October 30, 1988.
75. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k Nasser M. Abbasi.  "A little bit of Mathematica history".
76. ^ Mathematica 1.2 adds new graphics options: upgrade also promises concurrent
operations by Elinor Craig, MacWeek, July 25, 1989.
77. ^ Mathematica + 283 functions = Mathematica 2.0 by Raines Cohen, MacWeek, January 15,
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78. ^ New version of Mathematica, Mechanical Engineering, June 1, 1993.
79. ^ "Wolfram News Archive". Wolfram.com. Retrieved  2013-08-16.
80. ^ Mathematica 4.0 by Charles Seiters, Macworld, October 1, 1999.
81. ^ Mathematica 5.0 Adds Up: Exactly 15 years after Mathematica's initial release, Wolfram
Research has released Mathematica, PC Magazine, September 3, 2003.
82. ^ Mathematica 5.1's Web Services Add Up; Mathematica 5.1 delivers improvements over
Version 5.0 that are vastly out of proportion for a .1 upgrade. by Peter Coffee, eWeek, December 6,
2004.
83. ^ Mathematica hits 64-bit, MacWorld UK, July 13, 2005.
84. ^ Today, Mathematica is reinvented – Blog by Stephen Wolfram
85. ^ Mathematica 6: Felix Grant finds that version 6 of Wolfram Research's symbolic
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86. ^ Mathematica 7.0 Released Today! – Blog by Stephen Wolfram
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88. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: Mathematica 9 Is Released Today!". Retrieved 28 November2012.
89. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: Launching Mathematica 10–with 700+ New Functions and a Crazy
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90. ^ "Wolfram Research News  » Mathematica 10.1 is Now Available!". Retrieved  11
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92. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: Today We Launch Version 11!". Retrieved 8 August  2016.
93. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: The R&D Pipeline Continues: Launching Version 11.1".
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94. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: It's Another Impressive Release! Launching Version 11.2 Today".
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95. ^ "Stephen Wolfram blog: Roaring into 2018 with Another Big Release: Launching Version
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97. ^ "Stephen Wolfram In Less Than a Year, So Much New: Launching Version 12.1 of Wolfram
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External links[edit]
Wolfram Mathematicaat Wikipedia's sister projects

 Media from Wikimedia Commons

 Textbooks from Wikibooks
 Data from Wikidata

 Official website
 Mathematica Documentation Center
 Wolfram Open Cloud limited free access to Mathematica via a browser
 Image identification website powered by Mathematica
 Wolfram Demonstrations Project Mathematica based demonstrations
 A little bit of Mathematica history documenting the growth of code base and number of
functions over time
 Wolfram Screencast & Video Gallery: Hands-on Start to Mathematica