SMath for Physics

SMath is a free mathematical notebook program similar to Mathcad that provides many options for studying and solving complex mathematical equations. This book is a primer providing a concise but thorough introduction that keeps physics at a fairly low level so readers can concentrate on understanding the SMath features. A wide range of topics are discussed in SMath for Physics including: using SMath as a simple scratch pad; getting familiar with the functions (polyroots, roots, and solve) to find the roots of the equations; making use of SMaths built-in ability to perform symbolic and numerical differentiation and numerical integration; using the vector and matrix features; and performing linear and non-linear regression analysis. The student who learns how to use SMath can expect to get more accurate results compared to a paper-and-calculator method since input errors are more easily spotted on the SMath page. The skills acquired learning SMath will help the reader in future work even if they end up working for a company that uses Mathcad since the interface and features are very similar.