# All Questions

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37answers
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### What are the most common pitfalls awaiting new users?

As you may already know, Mathematica is a wonderful piece of software. However, it has a few characteristics that tend to confuse new (and sometimes not-so-new) users. That can be clearly seen from ...
19answers
130k views

### Where can I find examples of good Mathematica programming practice?

I consider myself a pretty good Mathematica programmer, but I'm always looking out for ways to either improve my way of doing things in Mathematica, or to see if there's something nifty that I haven't ...
7answers
12k views

### What are the use cases for different scoping constructs?

Mathematica includes three functions that I know of which can be used to effectively (if not actually) define a variable and give it a value within a local scope: ...
3answers
39k views

### Alternatives to procedural loops and iterating over lists in Mathematica

While there are some cases where a For loop might be reasonable, it's a general mantra – one I subscribe to myself – that "if you are using a ...
4answers
12k views

### Plot draws list of curves in same color when not using Evaluate

This example comes from the Mathematica documentation for Plot under Basic Examples. Can someone please explain why these are each plotted as a different color in ...
3answers
11k views

### How do I work with Root objects?

I want to solve the trigonometric equation : $$(3-\cos 4x )\cdot (\sin x - \cos x ) = 2.$$ I tried Solve[(3 - Cos[4*x])*(Sin[x] - Cos[x]) == 2, x] It returns the ...
8answers
17k views

### List of compilable functions

Is there somewhere a list on the functions that Compile can compile, or the cases in which a particular function can be compiled that I haven't found? I'd be glad ...
3answers
6k views

### What is a Mathematica packed array?

A simple sounding question with a few sub questions: What is the difference between unpacked vs packed array? Are packed arrays more space efficent, how much so? Are packed arrays more time ...
9answers
57k views

### Elegant operations on matrix rows and columns

Question The Mathematica tutorial has a section 'Basic Matrix Operations', describing operations like transpose, inverse and determinant. These operations all work on entire matrices. I am missing a ...
2answers
10k views

### What is the distinction between DownValues, UpValues, SubValues, and OwnValues?

When reading through the documentation, you often encounter the phrases DownValues, UpValues, ...
19answers
12k views

### What are some useful, undocumented Mathematica functions?

There have already been some questions about some undocumented functionality in Mathematica. Such as (please add to these lists!) How can one find undocumented options or option values in Mathematica?...
7answers
6k views

### What is the most convenient way to read definitions of in-memory symbols when we don't have the source files? (Spelunking tools)

Note: I put Simon's implementation on GitHub. Contributions welcome! When trying to read the definition of already defined (package or built-in) symbols using ...
5answers
10k views

### What does the construct f[x_] := f[x] = … mean?

This question mentions "x := x = trickery". What does defining a function as f[x_] := f[x] = ... do and what is it good for?
4answers
8k views

### Why does MatrixForm affect calculations?

This is a really newbie question, but it has me confused. Why does this code work without // MatrixForm and doesn't work with ...
4answers
2k views

### Enforcing correct variable bindings and avoiding renamings for conflicting variables in nested scoping constructs

Using global variables the following turns an "expression" into a Function: expr = 2 x; Function[x, Evaluate[expr]] Of course ...
6answers
3k views

### How are parameters evaluated for a Plot in Manipulate

I am trying to get my head around how Manipulate evaluates functions in a Plot. I have read the introduction to Manipulate, and introduction to Dynamic, but I still ...
7answers
68k views

### Assign the results from a Solve to variable(s)

I understand Mathematica can't assign the results of a Solve to the unknowns because there may be more than 1 solution. How can I assign the 4 values of following result to variables? ...
8answers
10k views

### About multi-root search in Mathematica for transcendental equations

I have some questions for multiroot search for transcendental equations. Is there any clever solution to find all the roots for a transcendental equation in a specific range? Perhaps ...
4answers
3k views

### Dynamic Euler–Bernoulli beam equation

I am trying to solve for the vibration of a Euler–Bernoulli beam. The equation is $\frac{\partial ^2u(t,x)}{\partial t^2}+\frac{\partial ^4u(t,x)}{\partial x^4}=0$ For the boundary conditions I ...
4answers
3k views

### Function in Table

I need a table with the elements made of pure functions and list elements. This is a simplified example: I need a list as: ...
8answers
7k views

### Can one identify the design patterns of Mathematica?

... or are they unnecessary in such a high-level language? I've been thinking about programming style, coding standards and the like quite a bit lately, the result of my current work on a mixed .Net/...
3answers
10k views

### Why should I avoid the For loop in Mathematica?

Some people advise against the use of For loops in Mathematica. Why? Should I heed this advice? What is wrong with For? What ...
4answers
4k views

### Replacement inside held expression

I wish to make a replacement inside a held expression: f[x_Real] := x^2; Hold[{2., 3.}] /. n_Real :> f[n] The desired output is ...
4answers
11k views

### Plotting implicitly-defined space curves

It is known that space curves can either be defined parametrically, \begin{align*}x&=f(t)\\y&=g(t)\\z&=h(t)\end{align*} or as the intersection of two surfaces, \begin{align*}F(x,y,...
10answers
3k views

### Injecting a sequence of expressions into a held expression

Consider the following toy example: Hold[{1, 2, x}] /. x -> Sequence[3, 4] It will give Hold[{1, 2, Sequence[3, 4]}] ...
9answers
5k views

### Updating Wagon's FindAllCrossings2D[] function

Stan Wagon's Mathematica in Action (second edition; I haven't read the third edition and I'm hoping to eventually see it), demonstrates a nifty function called ...
4answers
15k views

### How do I save a variable or function definition to a file?

Is it possible to save a function which was created via Interpolation of some data in such a way that I can use this function in a new Mathematica session without ...
4answers
4k views

### How do I evaluate only one step of an expression?

I am looking for a simple, robust way to evaluate an expression only one step, and return the result in a held form. The definition of a single step is ambiguous, and this itself is probably worthy ...
6answers
116k views

### Get a “step-by-step” evaluation in Mathematica

Is it possible in Mathematica to get a step-by-step evaluation of some functions; that's to say, outputting not only the result but all the stages that have led to it? If so, how does one do it? ...
9answers
41k views

### 1 Plot, 2 Scale/Axis

I would like to plot those two datasets on top of each other. But they have very different range on the $y$ axis. How can I have two different axis? I found the following on the help menu but quite ...
6answers
19k views

### How to compile effectively?

What are the best practices of compiling functions? I understand that this is a vague question, but let me list some aspects that might trigger useful answers. Some of these have already been answered ...
5answers
13k views

### Are you interested in purchasing David Wagner's “Power programming with Mathematica”?

I recently contacted McGraw-Hill to see if they have a mechanism in place for printing out-of-print books that are still of interest. Specifically, I asked about "Power programming with Mathematica" ...
5answers
26k views

### Creating legends for plots with multiple lines?

So I have a graph with multiple lists, for e.g. data = {{1,2}, {3,4}, {3,5}, {2,3} . . .} If I then do ...
2answers
5k views

### Do I have to code each case of this Grid full of plots separately?

I have written some custom functions to draw multi-panel graphs like this one: It's done by passing a matrix of (custom) plotting functions to a MultiPanelGraph ...
7answers
14k views

### Struct equivalent in Mathematica?

I really miss having something like a struct in Mathematica. I know of (and regularly use) a couple of programming techniques which feel like a ...
4answers
7k views

### Can I simplify an expression into form which uses my own definitions?

This seems like a simple thing to do, but I couldn't find anything relevant from Mathematica documentation. So suppose I have an expression: a*b/(a + a*Cos[a/b]) ...
9answers
21k views

### Creating Mathematica packages

I'm building a package to help me write packages and their documentation. In this post I explained how to make a package and its documentation. In the answer I provided I describe how to build a very ...
1answer
2k views

### What's inside InterpolatingFunction[{{1., 4.}}, <>]?

I'm curious what's inside the InterpolationFunction object? For example: ...
11answers
17k views

### How to check if a 2D point is in a polygon?

Background: I use code from An Efficient Test For A Point To Be In A Convex Polygon Wolfram Demonstration to check if a point ( mouse pointer ) is in a ( convex ) polygon. Clearly this code fails for ...
2answers
2k views

### Plot Option Precedence while combining Plots with Show[]

I like to build sophisticated plots by combining simpler ones with Show[]. Typically this involves setting non-default Plot-Options with the different Plot-Commands,...
7answers
1k views

### Combining values in one column (or part) when values in another column (or part) match

Consider the following: ...
6answers
10k views

### Finding real roots of negative numbers (for example, $\sqrt[3]{-8}$)

Say I want to quickly calculate $\sqrt[3]{-8}$, to which the most obvious solution is $-2$. When I input $\sqrt[3]{-8}$ or Power[-8, 3^-1], Mathematica gives the ...
2answers
859 views

### Programming with Dynamic

I don't understand the following: f[a_, b_] := a + b ls = {1, 2, 3}; MapThread[f, {ls, {10, 20, 30}}] This yields ( as expected ) {11,22,33} If I change ...
2answers
4k views

### Extract values for ViewMatrix from a Graphics3D

Under More Information in the help page of ViewMatrix the following entry can be found With the setting ...
9answers
26k views

### $\LaTeX$ and Mathematica

I quite often would like to draw graphics in my $\LaTeX$ documents using Mathematica. I have encountered three problems. I would like to know if there are any workarounds to these problems I would ...
8answers
19k views

### How to avoid returning a Null if there is no “else” condition in an If construct

I need to use If but with only one option that is if "a" then do "b", else do nothing. So I wrote If[a,b] but the problem is ...
7answers
5k views

### Partitioning with varying partition size

How can I partition a list into partitions whose sizes vary? The length of the $k$'th partition is a function $f(k)$. For example: if $l = \{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6\}$ and $f(k) = k$. Then the partitioning ...
3answers
2k views

### Funny behaviour when plotting a polynomial of high degree and large coefficients

I am trying to plot a polynomial of degree $29$ on the domain $[0,1]$, with fairly large coefficients: ...
4answers
5k views

### Flatten command: matrix as second argument

One thing I could never wrap my head around is how Flatten works when provided with a matrix as the second argument, and the Mathematica help isn't particularly ...
4answers
5k views

### Using a PatternTest versus a Condition for pattern matching

My last question to the site resulted in several answers that involve using pattern matching in Mathematica, a feature I wasn't very familiar with at the time. I am currently reading Mathematica ...

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