This book is a compact introduction to the program Mathematica, which is widely used in mathematics, as well as in the natural and engineering sciences. The essential basics of Mathematica versions 3 and 4 (front end, kernel and most important standard packages) are explained with simple, non-field specific examples and exercises. After working through the book, readers will be able to solve problems from their own special fields by themselves and to find additional support in the online documentation.

The included CD-ROM contains the entire book in the form of Mathematica notebooks, with color versions of the graphics and animations. Hyperlinks built into the notebooks serve as internal references and point to the program's online documentation and to resources on the internet. The CD-ROM is compatible with Win95/98/NT, Mac and Unix and contains the program MathReader, with which the notebooks can be viewed without a complete installation of Mathematica.