Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha

Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha technologies are available to JMU faculty, staff, and students. Follow the directions below to request access and explore tutorials, teaching and research resources, and support options.

Requesting Access

Mathematica Desktop

1. Fill out this form to request a download. Use your @jmu.edu or @dukes.jmu.edu email.
2. Choose faculty/staff or student.
3. Click "Get Mathematica Desktop" and begin the download.
4. Sign in to the Wolfram User Portal whem prompted. If you don't have a Wolfram ID, choose "Create one" and follow those prompts.
5. Find the email with your verification code and enter it. Hit "Continue." Be sure to check your Spam/Junk folder, just in case.
6. Complete the form to request your Activation Key and click "Submit."

Mathematica Online and Wolfram|Alpha technologies

1. Revisit this link to request access to Mathematica|Online, Wolfram|Alpha Pro, and Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition,
2. Choose your correct affiliation (faculty/staff or student).
3. Choose the product.
4. To begin using Wolfram|Alpha Pro, visit Wolfram|Alpha. and log-in with your @jmu.edu or @dukes.jmu.edu email.
5. To begin using Mathematica|Online and Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition, visit the Wolfram Cloud. and log-in with your JMU email address.

Tutorials

• Hands-on Start to Wolfram Mathematica
  This tutorial helps you get started with Mathematica—learn how to create your first notebook, run calculations, generate visualizations, create interactive models, analyze data, and more.
  • Free online course with live Q&A
  • Book available in paperback or Kindle form
  • Free on-demand training video to watch any time
• Introduction to Mathematica for Students and Teachers (online course)
  Use this tutorial to learn about solving math problems in the Wolfram Language—from basic arithmetic to integral calculus and beyond.
• What's New in Mathematica
  Wolfram's site highlighting newest features and functions in our latest versions.
• How To Topics
  Access step-by-step instructions ranging from how to create animations to basic syntax information.
• Mathematica Resources
  Browse Wolfram's large collection of learning materials and support resources.
• Introduction to Notebooks (interactive open course)
  Learn to use Wolfram Notebooks for computing, programming, generating reports and creating presentations with this interactive course.

Teaching with Wolfram Technology

Mathematica offers an interactive classroom experience that helps students explore and grasp concepts, plus gives faculty the tools they need to easily create supporting course materials, assignments, and presentations.

• Teaching and Learning with Mathematica—Free video course
  Learn how to make your classroom dynamic with interactive models, explore computation and visualization capabilities in Mathematica that make it useful for teaching practically any subject at any level, and get best-practice suggestions for course integration.
• Preparing and Giving Presentations
  Learn how to create a slideshow presentation that combines graphics, calculations, and nicely formatted text, with live calculations or animations.
• Wolfram Demonstrations Project
  Download pre-built, open-code examples from a daily-growing collection of interactive visualizations, spanning a remarkable range of topics.
• Wolfram U Courses on Classroom Resources & Instruction
  Access on-demand and live courses on using Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and other Wolfram technologies in your classroom.

Research with Mathematica

Rather than requiring different toolkits for different jobs, Mathematica integrates the world's largest collection of algorithms, high-performance computing capabilities, and a powerful visualization engine in one coherent system, making it ideal for academic research in just about any discipline.

Resources for researchers

• Wolfram Language Training Courses—Free video courses
  Explore what's possible with the Wolfram Language, including programming fundamentals and concepts, built-in functions, symbolic expressions, and tips for better, faster coding.
• Field-Specific Applications
  Learn what areas of Mathematica are useful for specific fields.
• Wolfram Certifications
  Take online courses and earn formal certifications for your knowledge and expertise in field-specific disciplines.

Support Options

IT Help Desk staff and JMU Libraries support staff are not trained to answer Mathematica application-specific or technical questions. Most installation, documentation, and usage questions can be answered by the Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Questions about JMU's license may be directed to the LID Desk.