Learn how to use the Documentation Center effectively
Mathematica comes with the most comprehensive documentation I have ever seen in a software product. This documentation contains
- reference pages for every Mathematica function
- tutorials for various topics, which show you step by step how to achieve something
- guide pages to give you an overview of functions about a specific topic
- a categorised function navigator, to help you find appropriate guide pages and reference pages.
- finally, the complete interactive Mathematica book
You can always open the Documentation Center by pressing F1. When the cursor (the I-beam) is anywhere near a function, then the help page of this function is opened. E.g. when your cursor is anywhere at the position where the dots are in .I.n.t.e.g.r.a.t.e., you will be directed to the help page of Integrate.
Reference pages:
A reference page is a help page which is dedicated to exactly one Mathematica function (or symbol).
In the image below you see the reference page for the Sin function. Usually, some of the sections are open, but here I closed them so you see all parts at once.
- In blue, you see the usage. It gives you instantly information about how many arguments the function expects. Often there is more than one usage. Additionally, a short description is given.
- The Details section gives you further information about
Options, behavioural details and things which are important to note. In general, this section is only important in a more advanced state.
- In some cases, extra information is provided on the mathematical Background of the function explaining the depths of the method, its relation to other functions and its limitations (for example
FindHamiltonianCycle).
- The Examples section is the most important, because there you have a lot of examples, showing everything starting from simple use cases to very advanced things. Study this section carefully!
- See Also gives you a list of functions which are related. Very helpful, when a function does not exactly what you want, because most probably you find help in the referenced pages.
- Tutorials shows you tutorials which are related to the function. In the case of
Sin it is e.g. the Elementary Transcendental Functions tutorial.
- Related Guides gives you a list of related guide pages.
- Related Links references to material in the web: Demonstrations, MathWorld pages, etc.
In general, my recommendation for viewing a help page is the following:
- Study the usage carefully
- Look up basic examples. If you don't find what you need, look up all examples
- Read the Details
And of course if you like the how-to style, you should read the referenced tutorials.
Guide pages:
Guide pages collect all functions which belong to a certain topic and they are an excellent resource when you try to find a function you do not know yet.
The guide page itself is often divided into several subsections collecting similar functions. In the image above, for instance, the Trigonometric Functions. Furthermore, you can find links to tutorials, etc. when you open the Learning Resources tab. At the end of each guide page, you will find references to related guide pages.
Final notes:
Since the complete documentation consists of usual Mathematica notebooks, all calculations and examples can be tested inside the help pages. Of course, you cannot destroy the documentation, because everything is reset when you close a help page.
You can always search the documentation by typing into the search bar on top of the Documentation Center:
When coming from a different programming language, and you are not sure that a certain Mathematica function is equivalent to what you are used to, be sure to check the Properties & Relations section in the reference page to get ideas on what other functions could be relevant for your case.
Please find the original discussion here.
