I own both a TI-89 hand-held calculator and Mathematica for Students 4.
I can't figure out how to do things with Mathematica that I can easily do
with my TI-89.
Here is a list of such things I would love to be able to do with Mathematica:
1. Plot a 2D or 3D graph and trace through it. That is, plot a graph and then
move a cursor on the plot by little steps to see what are the values of
f(x) or f(x,y) or whatever..
2. Compute an integral graphically. On my TI-89, I can plot a 2D graph and
compute the area under the curve graphically. I see the area that I want
to compute getting grayed so I can see what is going on.
3. Could it be possible with Mathematica to graphically observe the integral
of a 3D function? For example, if I plot a cylinder and want to compute the
integral from z=2 to z=3.7, would there be a way for the cylinder part from
z=2 to z=3.7 to get ''filled''? I can't do that with my TI-89.
4. Is there a quick and easy way that I can zoom on a graph plot? With my
TI-89 I can quickly select a ''box'' on a region I want to zoom on and have it
enlarged on the fly.
5. This I can't do with my TI-89: Plot a plane, then, plot a vector (for
example, the normal vector to the plane) on the plane. All that on the same
graph of course.
6. The last thing I miss from my TI-89: Is it possible to do Units
conversion? With my TI-89 I can enter something like 12_ft->_m and have a
conversion from 12 feet to meters. I tried Mathematica's Convert function
but it doesn't seem to work. I entered Convert[12 Foot, Meter] and it just
prints back Convert[12 Foot, Meter]. I did load that '<<ConversionPackage'
thing before (the one they tell you to load in the Convert on-line help
Can I do all that in Mathematica 4?
Thanks in advance for your time and help !
(p.s.: please, forgive my bad English! It ain't my native language :)