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1500 questions
643
votes
7 answers
xkcd-style Plots
I received an email to which I wanted to respond with a xkcd-style graph, but I couldn't manage it. Everything I drew looked perfect, and I don't have enough command over PlotLegends to have these pieces of text floating around. Any tips on how one…
Amatya
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602
votes
19 answers
Where can I find examples of good Mathematica programming practice?
I consider myself a pretty good Mathematica programmer, but I'm always looking out for ways to either improve my way of doing things in Mathematica, or to see if there's something nifty that I haven't encountered yet. Where (books, websites, etc.)…
J. M.'s missing motivation
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549
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37 answers
What are the most common pitfalls awaiting new users?
As you may already know, Mathematica is a wonderful piece of software.
However, it has a few characteristics that tend to confuse new (and sometimes not-so-new) users. That can be clearly seen from the the fact that the same questions keep being…
Dr. belisarius
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355
votes
6 answers
How do I draw a pair of buttocks?
I'm trying to develop a function which 3D plot would have a buttocks like shape.
Several days of searching the web and a dozen my of own attempts to solve the issue have brought nothing but two pitiful formulas below.
They have some resemblance to…
Simpleton Jack
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258
votes
9 answers
What are the use cases for different scoping constructs?
Mathematica includes three functions that I know of which can be used to effectively (if not actually) define a variable and give it a value within a local scope: Module, Block, and With. What are the differences between these functions (and any…
David Z
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220
votes
2 answers
What is the distinction between DownValues, UpValues, SubValues, and OwnValues?
When reading through the documentation, you often encounter the phrases DownValues, UpValues, SubValues, and OwnValues. I am trying to understand the distinction between the four of them, and how, for a given Symbol, I can use them. Also, are they…
rcollyer
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212
votes
26 answers
What are some useful, undocumented Mathematica functions?
There have already been some questions about some undocumented functionality in Mathematica. Such as (please add to these lists!)
How can one find undocumented options or option values in Mathematica?
What do these undocumented Style options in…
Simon
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208
votes
2 answers
Help find a bright object on Mars!
In today's news, scientists found a bright object on one of Curiosity's photos (it's near the bottom of the picture below). It's a bit tricky to find - I actually spent quite some time staring at the picture before I saw it.
The question, then, is…
Victor K.
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205
votes
3 answers
Alternatives to procedural loops and iterating over lists in Mathematica
While there are some cases where a For loop might be reasonable, it's a general mantra – one I subscribe to myself – that "if you are using a For loop in Mathematica, you are probably doing it wrong". But For and Do loops are familiar to people who…
Mr.Wizard
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205
votes
14 answers
Elegant operations on matrix rows and columns
Question
The Mathematica tutorial has a section 'Basic Matrix Operations', describing operations like transpose, inverse and determinant. These operations all work on entire matrices. I am missing a section on basic operations on matrix rows /…
sjdh
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202
votes
2 answers
QR Code in shopping cart handle
This week, the market people from my work wanted to put QR codes in shopping cart handles, but when they tested it, the QR code did not work. I noted that the cylindrical curvature (even small) distorted the image, and the cell phone can't read it.…
Murta
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183
votes
6 answers
How to compile effectively?
What are the best practices of compiling functions? I understand that this is a vague question, but let me list some aspects that might trigger useful answers. Some of these have already been answered (these don't need answers) but I included them…
István Zachar
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181
votes
5 answers
Performance tuning in Mathematica?
What performance tuning tricks do you use to make a Mathematica application faster? MATLAB has an amazing profiler, but from what I can tell, Mathematica has no similar functionality.
John
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181
votes
8 answers
List of compilable functions
Is there somewhere a list on the functions that Compile can compile, or the cases in which a particular function can be compiled that I haven't found?
I'd be glad even with a list of some of them which surprisingly aren't compilable, and how to do…
Rojo
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173
votes
1 answer
Mathematica Minecraft
Some time ago I asked myself: with all these great graphics and interactive capabilities of Mathematica, what kinds of 3D games can be implemented in it? And the answer which came to mind is Minecraft classic. The scene in this game is almost…
faleichik
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