MuPAD Tutorial

Book excerpt: This book explains the basic use of the software package called MuPAD and gives an insight into the power of the system. MuPAD is a so-called com puter algebra system, which is developed mainly by Sciface Software and the MuPAD Research Group of the University of Paderborn in Germany. This introduction addresses mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists, natural scientists and, more generally, all those in need of mathematical com putations for their education or their profession. Generally speaking, this book addresses anybody who wants to use the power of a modern computer algebra package. There are two ways to use a computer algebra system. On the one hand, you may use the mathematical knowledge it incorporates by calling system functions interactively. For example, you can compute symbolic integrals or generate and invert matrices by calling appropriate functions. They comprise the system's mathematical intelligence and may implement sophisticated al gorithms. Chapters 2 through 15 discuss this way of using MuPAD. On the other hand, with the help of MuPAD's programming language, you can easily add functionality to the system by implementing your own algorithms as MuPAD procedures. This is useful for special purpose applications if no ap propriate system functions exist. Chapters 16 through 18 are an introduction to programming in MuPAD.