1.0.1 Notebook Interfaces
| use an icon or the Start menu | graphical ways to start Mathematica | | mathematica | the shell command to start Mathematica | | text ending with Shift-Enter | input for Mathematica (Shift-Return on some keyboards) | | choose the Quit menu item | exiting Mathematica |
Running Mathematica with a notebook interface. In a "notebook" interface, you interact with Mathematica by creating interactive documents. If you use your computer via a purely graphical interface, you will typically double-click the Mathematica icon to start Mathematica. If you use your computer via a textually based operating system, you will typically type the command mathematica to start Mathematica. When Mathematica starts up, it usually gives you a blank notebook. You enter Mathematica input into the notebook, then type Shift-Enter to make Mathematica process your input. (To type Shift-Enter, hold down the Shift key, then press Enter.) You can use the standard editing features of your graphical interface to prepare your input, which may go on for several lines. Shift-Enter tells Mathematica that you have finished your input. If your keyboard has a numeric keypad, you can use its Enter key instead of Shift-Enter. After you send Mathematica input from your notebook, Mathematica will label your input with In[n]:=. It labels the corresponding output Out[n]=. | You type 2 + 2, then end your input with Shift-Enter. Mathematica processes the input, then adds the input label In[1]:=, and gives the output. | | 
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Throughout this book, "dialogs" with Mathematica are shown in the following way: | With a notebook interface, you just type in 2 + 2. Mathematica then adds the label In[1]:=, and prints the result. | |
Out[1]=
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Section 0.6.1 discusses some important details about reproducing the dialogs on your computer system. Section 1.3 gives more information about Mathematica notebooks. You should realize that notebooks are part of the "front end" to Mathematica. The Mathematica kernel which actually performs computations may be run either on the same computer as the front end, or on another computer connected via some kind of network or line. In most cases, the kernel is not even started until you actually do a calculation with Mathematica. To exit Mathematica, you typically choose the Quit menu item in the notebook interface.
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