Now that the Computable Document Format (CDF) is officially released, the real fun has begun. At least for me. Whether or not you plan to start using CDF in your own work anytime soon, you’ve got to admit, it’s pretty cool. From publishing textbooks and making complex information easy to understand to recreational games and everyday blogging, CDF truly makes it possible to communicate ideas in a more participatory way—as adopters of the format have already proven.

It has been exciting to see the tremendous interest in CDF following last month’s launch. Although CDF is a new advancement, it’s clear that the possibilities it presents resonate with authors and readers alike, and hence with publishers as well. More »

It has been a roller coaster ride for the stock market lately. On August 1, the United States government avoided a default by a last minute deal to raise the debt limit. A few days later, we witnessed the first ever downgrade of U.S. credit by Standard & Poor’s.

Using Mathematica’s TradingChart command, we can witness the stock market’s immediate negative reaction to the downgrade. Note: Mouse over the chart to see the daily open, high, low, and closing price of the S&P 500 index.

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Only 10 more weeks to go until the Wolfram Technology Conference 2011, and we have just added details for nearly 50 talks and interactive sessions to the conference website. We will cover a broad array of topics across mathematics and statistics; finance, business, and social sciences; education; software development; science and engineering; electronic publishing; visualization; and more!

Presentation titles and abstracts are being added every day! See our current list of talks and workshops here. More »

Got questions about Mathematica? The Wolfram Blog has answers! We’ll regularly answer selected questions from users around the web. You can submit your question directly to the Q&A Team using this form.

Today’s question is from Herbert, a reader of this blog:

How can I plot a function like sin(x) together with a relation like x = π? More »

Things are really moving fast at Wolfram these days. Mathematica 8 introduced 500 new functions and 7 new or extended application areas, including the revolutionary free-form input, Wolfram|Alpha integration, and a direct way to create our groundbreaking Computable Document Format (CDF), which was officially released to the public in late July.

To help keep current users and those who are interested in Wolfram technology up to date, we will be hosting a free half-day Wolfram Mathematica Virtual Conference.

With our global audience in mind, we are offering this event on two separate days in two different time zones:

Monday, September 26, 2011:
Noon–4:15pm Eastern Daylight Time

Tuesday, September 27, 2011:
Noon–4:15pm Central European Summer Time

This virtual event is packed with tips, tricks, and techniques from Wolfram developers and Mathematica experts and will help you get the most out of Mathematica—regardless of your discipline or familiarity with Wolfram technologies. More »