"I can actually get it [Mathematica] to do something, and it's a programming language. You don't have to try to outguess the program to place text where you want it or to act on your input as you think it should."

Avoiding Landslides from Your Desktop

You might think avoiding a landslide would mean taking a different road during a rainy spell. However, from his computer at an Intermountain Research Station in Idaho, David Hall of the USDA Forest Service uses Mathematica to avoid landslides.

Hall, a computer programmer and analyst, uses Mathematica to solve complex equations for models that replicate the physical processes of landslides.

"Mathematica handles the symbolic simplification of equations in models that mitigate landslides, or determine where landslides are likely to occur," Hall said. "This helps geotechnical specialists avoid building roads or harvesting timber in areas that appear to be susceptible to landslides."

Key features of Mathematica used:

• Symbolic--simplification of complex equations for programming
• Graphic--generating PostScript output of graphics