What is the relationship between NKS and Mathematica?
Wolfram has said that Mathematica is what made A New Kind of Science possible. First, at a very practical level: it provided the tools Wolfram needed to make the discoveries that underlie A New Kind of Science. Second, at a more abstract level: it showed him that one could really start from scratch and build very big things from very simple elements. You don’t need to know anything about Mathematica to understand A New Kind of Science–just like you don’t need to know how computers work inside to use one. But for Wolfram, Mathematica was a crucial step in being able to create A New Kind of Science. And in practice the more comfortable you are using Mathematica, the easier you will probably find doing original research in NKS, yourself. You can order Mathematica here. There is also a student version. Although one can understand NKS on its own terms without Mathematica, many functions and routines have been written in Mathematica to explore NKS topics. The notes to the book contain execu
