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"Meet an Inventor Who Makes Complex Calculus Simple," by Gautam Naik. Wall Street Journal, 25 September 1996, page B1.
This article describes the power and usefulness of Mathematica, the mathematical software invented by physicist Stephen Wolfram. Since 1986 Wolfram's software has brought the power of mathematics to bear on an impressive array of problems, from optimizing the geometry of shampoo molecules, to analyzing various insurance law scenarios. When designing the bicycle arena for the Olympics in Atlanta, engineers turned to Mathematica to help them solve the complex equations needed to optimize speeds, as well as to produce a detailed 3-dimensional model of the 235 pieces of steel that snap together to make the arena. The article also describes some educational uses of Mathematica and the controversy over use of computers in the classroom. The article ends with a confession by Wolfram that he never learned long division.
-Allyn Jackson
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