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Physics 218 LAB Links: Spring 2019

Getting Started with Mathematica

To obtain a student copy of Mathematica, visit the following ITS web site: https://help.lafayette.edu/mathematica.

There are a variety of on-line tutorials available for Mathematica. I recommend going to Wolfram.com and exploring their on-line resources. Some students have reported the following to be useful:

"Hands-on Start". A series of screencasts that walk you through many different aspects of Mathematica, with a good balance between overview information and specific, detailed information that allows you to actually accomplish something quickly.
These screencasts are part of the Getting Started channel, which is one of many channels available in the Wolfram Screencast & Video Gallery.
Many more resources are available in the Learning Center.

Getting Started with Python

Python is an open-source general purpose programming language widely used in many fields, including science and engineering. It is designed to be easy-to-learn and highly extensible. The package we will use is known as "Scientific Python", or "SciPy," which includes a number of useful packages for both computing and plotting results.

Python Distributions

There are many different packagings of python, typically including a wide selection of useful packages, as well as a convenient front end for editing and running programs. In the lab, we have installed the Anaconda distribution. (Specifically, the 2018.12 distribution of 64-bit Python 3.7.) To get your own copy, visit http://www.anaconda.com/distribution/ and select the appropriate link for your operating system. Within Anaconda, we will typically be using the 'Spyder' environment.

Tutorials

There is an overwhelming amount of on-line documentation available. A basic tutorial for Python is available at https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html. If you are new to Python, It is worth reading through this tutorial at least up through chapter 4 (skipping 4.4, 4.5, and 4.7 on a first reading) before trying to do any significant programming. The main web site for SciPy is http://scipy.org. It has many useful links for further exploration.

Constants, Units, and Uncertainty

In November 2018, a new basis for the SI system of measurements was adopted. For more background on this change, see the article An Introduction to the New SI, The Physics Teacher 55, 16 (2017). A more in-depth discussion is in the July 2014 issue of Physics Today, in the article: A more fundamental International System of Units.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards maintains a useful page with the current best values for many fundamental constants, at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/.

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