Mathematica and WolframAlphaPro How to Get Them Free on Your Computer

How to Get WolframAlpha Pro

For everyone (faculty, staff, student) to request WolframAlpha Pro, they should follow these steps:

  1. Create an account (New users only):
    1. Go to user.wolfram.com and click "Create Account"
    2. Fill out form using a @wlu.edu email, and click "Create Wolfram ID"
    3. Check your email and click the link to validate your Wolfram ID
  2. Request Acces to Mathematica Online:
    1. Got to this link to request access.
    2. Go to wolframalpha.com and sign in with your Wolfram ID in the upper right-hand corner to access WolframAlpha Pro.

How to Get Mathematica

Mathematica is currently installed in the following locations:

  • Computer labs
    • All public and general labs
  • Computer clusters
    • The Mathematica license for WLU allows for parallel computing on dedicated research clusters as well as in ad-hoc, or distributed, grid environments. For details, please contact Andy Dorsett or John Watkins.

Personal Use

To request Mathematica Desktop and Mathematica Online, follow the directions below.

Faculty

  1. Create an account (New users only):
    1. Go to user.wolfram.com and click "Create Account"
    2. Fill out form using a @wlu.edu email, and click "Create Wolfram ID"
    3. Check your email and click the link to validate your Wolfram ID
  2. Request access to the product:
    • Mathematica Desktop on school-owned machine
      1. Fill out this form to request an Activation Key
      2. Click the "Product Summary page" link to access your license
      3. Click "Get Downloads" and select "Download" next to your platform
      4. Run the installer on your machine, and enter Activation Key at prompt
    • Mathematica Desktop on personal machine
      1. Fill out this form to request a home-use license from Wolfram.
    • Mathematica Online
      1. Fill out this form to request access
      2. Go to Mathematica Online and sign in to access Mathematica Online

Students

  1. Create an account (New users only):
    1. Go to user.wolfram.com and click "Create Account"
    2. Fill out form using a @wlu.edu email, and click "Create Wolfram ID"
    3. Check your email and click the link to validate your Wolfram ID
  2. Request access to the product:
    • Mathematica Desktop on personal machine
      1. Fill out this form to request an Activation Key
      2. Click the "Product Summary page" link to access your license
      3. Click "Get Downloads" and select "Download" next to your platform
      4. Run the installer on your machine, and enter Activation Key at prompt
    • Mathematica Online
      1. Fill out this form to request access
      2. Go to Mathematica Online and sign in to access Mathematica Online

Are you interested in putting Mathematica elsewhere? Please let IT or Andy Dorsett at Wolfram Research know.

Tutorials

Mathematica

The first three tutorials are excellent for new users, and can be assigned to students as homework to learn Mathematica outside of class time.

  • Hands-on Start to Mathematica (video)

    Follow along in Mathematica as you watch this multi-part screencast that teaches you the basics—how to create your first notebook, calculations, visualizations, interactive examples, and more.

  • Hands-on Start to Wolfram Mathematica and Programming with the Wolfram Language (book)

    Learn Mathematica at your own pace from authors with 50+ years of combined Mathematica experience—with hands-on examples, end-of-chapter exercises, and authors' tips that introduce you to the breadth of Mathematica with a focus on ease of use.

  • Mathematica & Wolfram Language Fast Introduction for Math Students (online book)

    Use this tutorial to learn about solving math problems in the Wolfram Language—from basic arithmetic to integral calculus and beyond.

  • What's New in Mathematica 11

    Provides a list of new functionality in Mathematica 11, and links to documentation and examples for these new features—including 3D printing, audio processing, machine learning and neural networks, and text and language processing.

  • How To Topics

    Access step-by-step instructions ranging from how to create animations to basic syntax information.

  • Mathematica Resources

    Browse Wolfram's large collection of learning materials and support resources.

Mathematica Online

  • Hands-on Start to Mathematica Online (video)

    This tutorial screencast series provides step-by-step instructions to get you started with Mathematica Online—from creating your first notebook complete with text, calculations, visualizations, and interactive examples, to sharing your notebook with others for collaboration and viewing through the Wolfram Cloud.

For Students

Mathematica for Students has all the functionality and versatility of Mathematica, making it the perfect software to give you the edge in your educational and professional pursuits. 

  • Mathematica can help you master concepts, so you'll do better in school (and after graduation).
  • You can use Mathematica for a variety of courses, homework assignments, and projects without needing to buy specialized software for each task.
  • Mathematica requires little time investment to learn, so you can start using it immediately.
  • Using Mathematica  means you'll be learning a software that is used by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, research labs, and universities worldwide.

Resources for Students

Teaching with Mathematica

Mathematica offers an interactive classroom experience that helps students explore and grasp concepts, plus gives faculty the tools they need to easily create supporting course materials, assignments, and presentations.

Resources for Educators

  • Mathematica for Teaching and Education—Free video course

    Learn how to make your classroom dynamic with interactive models, explore computation and visualization capabilities in Mathematica that make it useful for teaching practically any subject at any level, and get best-practice suggestions for course integration.

  • How To Create a Lecture Slideshow—Video tutorial

    Learn how to create a slideshow for class that shows a mixture of graphics, calculations, and nicely formatted text, with live calculations or animations.

  • Wolfram Demonstrations Project

    Download pre-built, open-code examples from a daily-growing collection of interactive visualizations, spanning a remarkable range of topics.

  • Wolfram Training Education Courses

    Access on-demand and live courses on Mathematica, SystemModeler, and other Wolfram technologies.

  • Get support and expand your knowledge among the wide range of self-help options in the Wolfram support center.
  • Need to compute something on the fly from your mobile device, or while away from campus? Check out Wolfram|Alpha, which lets you explore a wide variety of topics.

Research with Mathematica

Rather than requiring different toolkits for different jobs, Mathematica integrates the world's largest collection of algorithms, high-performance computing capabilities, and a powerful visualization engine in one coherent system, making it ideal for academic research in just about any discipline.

Resources for Researchers

  • Mathematica for University Research—Free video course

    Explore Mathematica's high-level and multi-paradigm programming language, support for parallel computing and GPU architectures, built-in functionality for specialized application areas, and multiple publishing and deployment options for sharing your work.

  • Wolfram Language Training Courses—Free video courses

    Explore what's possible with the Wolfram Language, including programming fundamentals and concepts, built-in functions, symbolic expressions, and tips for better, faster coding.

  • Utilizing HPC and Grid Computing—Free video course

    Learn how to create programs that take advantage of multicore machines or available clusters.

  • Field-Specific Applications

    Learn what areas of Mathematica are useful for specific fields.

  • Download pre-built examples and courseware from the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, Mathworld, and the Library Archive.
  • Sign up for the Wolfram Faculty Program, where you can learn from and share with other educators who are teaching with Mathematica.
  • Get support and expand your knowledge among the wide range of self-help options in the Wolfram support center.
  • Need to compute something on the fly from your mobile device, or while away from campus? Check out Wolfram|Alpha, which lets you explore a wide variety of topics.