Mathematica is a complete development environment enabling the creation of demonstrations, numeric and symbolic computations, programming and slide shows. It can be used directly out of the box via the notebook interface, via a web browser or by other systems as a back-end computational engine.

Functions work for any size or precision of number, compute with symbols and can be represented graphically. It is possible to switch algorithms to obtain the optimal answer and to check and adjust the accuracy of results. A notebook document provides a complete report including inputs, outputs and graphics in an interactive typeset form. Add text, headings, formulas from a textbook or interface elements to create an online slide show, web, XML or printed presentation. Mathematica packages can be debugged using Wolfram Workbench, encapsulated and wrapped in a custom user interface. Java, C or links to a proprietary system can use Mathematica behind the scenes. Mathlink includes MM software for loading legacy code or existing files into a MM notebook.

Features include:

• Free-form linguistic input: Mathematica 8 pioneers free-form linguistic input, allowing users to enter plain English and get immediate results and the Mathematica input for further exploration, without the need for syntax
• Statistics: new superfunctions automatically compute the probability of any event and the expectation of any expression, estimate distributions from data, or quantify goodness of fit. New statistically distributions
• Software development: built-in GPU programming support, high-performance C code generation, SymbolicC support, and expanded parallel processing
  • Fast Compiled Functions: Speed up code execution with the new options of automatic C code generation and linking. New automated parallel execution further multiplies performance on multicore machines
  • Integrated C Workflow: Automatically convert compilable Mathematica programs into C code, for standalone or integrated use. Mathematica directly interfaces to external C compilers for building executables and libraries
  • SymbolicC: Use SymbolicC to create, manipulate, and optimize C code, using the power of Mathematica's symbolic programming
  • Dynamic Libraries: Integrate external dynamic libraries directly into Mathematica—enabling high-speed, memory-efficient execution
  • CUDA and OpenCL Support: Build GPU computation into your Mathematica programs using new support for CUDA and OpenCL environments
  • Mathematica Shell Scripts: Use high-level Mathematica language to make scripts invoked from the command shell
• Engineering/R&D: integrated control systems and wavelet functions. Analyse and design control systems using classical and state-space techniques, develop control solutions for analog and digital systems, and simulate models in open- and closed-loop configurations
• Finance: perform comprehensive derivative calculations, including exotic option pricing; compute bond values, sensitivity measures, and more; and calculate time value of money with a variety of effective interest rate scenarios
• Image processing: with many new algorithms added for real-time image acquisition, feature detection, and more, Mathematica 8 offers a complete environment and interactive workflow for image processing and analysis
• Graphs and Networks: are now fully integrated into Mathematica, including high-performance scalable data structures, advanced aesthetics, and broad modeling and analysis capabilities
• New Import and Export Formats: supports the latest Microsoft Excel file format; automatically imports more elevation, satellite, seismology, microarray, graph, and other data formats; and includes plugin architecture for user-defined formats
• New Statistics Visualisations: new statistics charts, including box whisker charts, quantile plots, and paired bar charts and histograms, with Mathematica's automation and flexibility
• New and Improved Visualisation: new scaling function support for 2D and 3D charts and histograms, new options for applying textures to surfaces and regions, improvements to discrete plots, and more
• Enhanced Illustration and Drawing Tools: illustrate ideas or annotate graphics using improved drawing tools, including dynamic guides
• Enhanced 2D and 3D Graphics: texture mapping of images to 3D surfaces with full hardware acceleration, built-in curve and filled curve primitives, and other new features
• Interactive Financial Charts: users can create customised interactive financial charts, applying more than 100 built-in financial indicators to their own data or built-in data feeds
• Cell Insertion Assistant: choose different input types and text styles immediately through a new cell insertion assistant
• New Welcome Screen: create new documents, open recent notebooks, learn new features, follow news and events, and more. Welcome screen is more useful than ever
• Enhanced Word Processing Capabilities: s multitude of new features better support everyday use of Mathematica for word processing: running heads, print preview, citation management, and end notes
• Dense Numerical Linear Algebra: dense numerical linear algebra is used for most Mathematica numerical analysis functionality including data analysis over matrix operations, numerical differential equation solvers and graphics. Performance increases can be experienced via modern microprocessors and Mathematica can use multiple processors for some numerical operations such as dot product on Linux, Microsoft Windows and HP-UX that support multi-threaded capability
• High-Speed Sparse Linear Algebra: implementation of sparse linear algebra enables arrays of any dimension or rank and is integrated fully with the Mathematica system. The performance of basic sparse linear algebra operations is on par with or better than those in dedicated numerical systems
• Large-Scale Linear Programming: optimised for solving large-scale linear programming problems using an interior-point method
• Large Number Arithmetic: more efficient implementations and better algorithms have improved the performance by a factor of up to three for numbers with less than one thousand digits. Performance improvements are even higher for numbers with millions of digits when an asymptotically more efficient algorithm is used
• 64-bit Platform Support: access to nearly a million terabytes
• MathLink: uses TCP/IP devices for communications between parts of Mathematica such as the front end and the kernel as well as for the primary means of communication between multiple Mathematica kernels such as in gridMathematica clusters. A TCP/IP protocol communicates at the speed of the underlying network. Bandwidth improves by a factor of ten and latency by a factor of two hundred on a standard 100Base-T network. Gains are higher on faster networks such as Gigabit networks and crossbars. A SharedMemory protocol for Microsoft Windows platforms provides a ten fold improvement for communication between parts of Mathematica on the same machine. All MathLink bindings (J/Link, .NET/Link and almost all Import/Export formats) rely on MathLink and will improve as a result of improvements in MathLink
• Notebook Document System: a complete technical document system with typeset mathematics, sound, graphics and animations providing the main interface to all Mathematica computations for combining calculations, code, results and graphics into one interactive technical document. Notebooks are platform-independent and combine interactive typeset mathematical expressions, formatted text, hyperlinks, graphics, animations, sound and fully customisable buttons and palettes. The user interface includes word-processing capabilities including spell checking with a large technical vocabulary and automatic hyphenation. Send notebooks by e-mail or place them on a web site or an FTP site without affecting the quality, print them, create on-screen presentations or translate them to other document formats such as HTML, TeX and MathML
• Complex Analysis: including high-speed numerics and high-level commands. Use MathLink to connect to other applications and set up alternative interfaces
• LabView: statistics, data analysis, import, export and connectivity functionality for processing large data sets. Import and export filters are provided for mroe than forty popular file formats including XML. Mathematica can connect to databases using a Database Access Kit or with JDBC or .NET mechanisms through J/Link and .NET/Link. Connection tools enable the building and accessing of online data feeds, other data acquisition software such as LabView and web services. Apply analysis or visualisation techniques or use computational power to build complex models. Tools are included for data manipulation, descriptive statistics of uni and multi-variate data, generalised linear and non-linear fitting, multi-dimensional interpolation, convolution, correlation, regression, ANOVA, hypothesis testing and visualisation and statistical plotting
• Plotting Functions and Visualisation: including Plot, Plot3D, ContourPlot, DensityPlot, ParametricPlot, MoviePlot, MoviePlot3D, LogPlot, LogLogPlot, PolarPlot, ImplicitPlot and ScatterPlot
• Automatic Numeric-Precision Control: track the precision of numerical results automatically throughout each calculation and adjust internal algorithms as needed to provide precision
• Typesetting: Fully typeset input and output are interactive. Work with pure-text input and output and typeset expressions. Text and mathematical expressions can be formatted in any typeface, size or style. Mathematical expressions are live and can be used as input or can make instant modifications
• Symbolic and Numeric Computations: perform symbolic and numeric computations. Evaluate functions to any precision anywhere in the complex plane including support for symbolic transformation rules enabling sophisticated manipulation and reduction of formulas
• Graphics: built-in graphics types for visualising results including 2D and 3D plots, contour and density graphics and a full specialised business and statistical plots. Generate animations and sounds using simple commands. A graphics language enables the customisation of graphics and the creation of graphic types from a set of built-in primitives
• Mathematica Notebooks and Packages: all documents and programs are fully platform independent. Add a point-and-click user interface using Mathematica buttons and palettes or Java so that end users do not need to work with the command line
• Interactive Web and Intranet Sites: any Mathematica program can be turned into an MSP, an interactive Web application running on a Mathematica server, that can be used from any Web browser and through an interface. Create advanced user interfaces using standard Web development tools and languages such as JavaScript, JSP or PHP
• Mathematica as a Software Component: use J/Link and MathLink API to deploy Mathematica applications as part of a Java, .NET or C/C++ program
• Programmable Palettes: fully customisable point-and-click interface. Place frequently used functions and symbols on a single palette or make notebooks interactive by including custom buttons. Add palettes to a menu for quick access or send them via e-mail
• Special-Purpose Interfaces: create complete platform independent, document-centric and graphical user interfaces using Java, .NET or C/C++. Build buttons and palettes, input forms and dialogues and fully interactive documents. Programs can generate interface elements on the fly. Generate reports with cross-referenced hyperlinks and make self-modifying palettes. J/Link and a Java Runtime Environment enable the use of AWT or Swing components for creating a Java-based graphical user interface to Mathematica that will run on all platforms for which Mathematica and Java are available. .NET/Link integrates with the Microsoft .NET Framework enabling any DLL or COM object to be called from within Mathematica
• Programming Language: build intricate calculations by specifying a definition for an expression and adding a formula s a Mathematica transformation rule. Add more rules for other cases or for related formulas. Common procedures such as sorting, searching, handling files and manipulating data are built in and remove peripheral code from routines
• Interactive Help Browser: includes the complete documentation for all functions in Mathematica and the entire text of The Mathematica Book as fully indexed Mathematica notebooks with advanced search capabilities and comprehensive hyperlinks. Interactive examples demonstrate the use of Mathematica functions and general capabilities. Modify and evaluate expressions directly within the Help Browser. User modifications of material within the Help Browser are not permanent. Help Browser information is stored as a Mathematica notebook enabling the creation of help notebooks that become fully integrated with other Help Browser information including the insertion of new entries into the Help Browser master index.

Product Licence

Single-User Licence

The single-user licence is the most basic licensing option for installing Mathematica or other individual Wolfram Research products on a single workstation with a local licence file.

Network Licence

Network licences provide centralised administration and concurrent-use options for Wolfram Research products throughout organisations.

A one-year subscription to the Premier Service is included.

The Mathematica Standard Upgrade provides all the new features of the current version and a year of Premier Service including personalised technical support, product updates and discounts on training.

Premier Service

Comprehensive program of exclusive services and discounts including:

• Automatic access to software updates
• Top-priority technical support
• Complimentary home-use licensing
• Special discounts on software, training and events.

This program is available on an annual subscription basis and benefits vary by product.

Mathematica Platform Availability

* Also runs on 64-bit PPC hardware.
** 64-bit support requires OS X 10.4.10.