July 28, 2003–Mathematica for Students 5 is now available, giving students access to the latest Mathematica technology at a special low price. Mathematica for Students 5 contains all of the same innovative features and functionality as Mathematica 5, the new high-performance version of Wolfram Research’s award-winning technical computing software that is part of the information infrastructure at top universities, leading corporations, and government organizations worldwide.

Mathematica for Students 5 surpasses other educational computing software with its unique combination of speed, functionality, and ease of use. A new quick-start interactive tutorial will help students familiarize themselves with Mathematica, while key new technologies deliver tremendous performance improvements and further extend the scope of Mathematica‘s already broad capabilities. Numerical computations in Version 5 are vastly faster than in earlier versions, meaning that students will be able to complete their assignments in less time than ever before. Mathematica for Students 5 can also tackle significantly larger, more challenging and computationally intensive problems, giving students a virtually limitless environment in which to experiment and do their work.

“Mathematica 5 is a much more powerful program. It represents the state of the art in numerical and symbolic algorithms and, as a result, runs like greased lightning,” says Joanne Mason, Director of Math Studies at the prestigious Harker School, located in California’s Silicon Valley. “Our students use Mathematica extensively in all math classes from precalculus on, as well as in many of our upper-level science and computer science courses.” With over 2,500 functions for technical computation, Mathematica for Students is suitable for all levels and fields of study from high school through graduate school, including computer science, economics, engineering, mathematics, the physical sciences, and statistics.

With Mathematica for Students, students can:

• Perform all of the symbolic and numeric calculations needed for their classes
• Use built-in palettes for instant access to hundreds of functions
• Plot 2D and 3D graphics from data and functions
• Connect to Java, C, .NET, and other languages
• Import, export, and analyze data, graphics, and sound in over 40 standard file formats
• Produce professional-looking reports incorporating formulas and graphics
• Publish work on the web by saving as HTML, XML, and MathML

In addition to adding extensive new functionality, Mathematica for Students 5 provides enhancements to its uniquely productive programming language and publication-quality technical word processing. Extensive integration with other software and standards also makes Mathematica for Students ideal for use in conjunction with other tools, including Wolfram Research’s other educational products such as Mathematica Teacher’s Edition, Calculus WIZ, and The Mathematical Explorer.

Using Mathematica for Students in their studies will help students develop skills that will be needed throughout their educational careers and that are sought by future employers. “Mathematica can take the pain out of the ‘brute-force’ calculations that often overshadow the ideas that students need to learn,” says Barry Cherkas, Professor of Mathematics at CUNY’s Hunter College, which operates under a systemwide Mathematica license. “It permits us to aim for a higher level of mathematical sophistication than is otherwise possible without this technology.”

Additional information about Mathematica for Students 5 is available.