Entering this differential equation into
a non-Mathematica, numeric-only system required its manual rewriting
into two first-order equations. In contrast, Mathematica performs the
transformation automatically.
Symbolically enhanced numeric computing is the ability of Mathematica to
apply symbolic transformations automatically to an ostensibly numerical
computation to optimize computation time and accuracy--or to make it
directly computable at all.
Often a numerical algorithm requires a particular form of expression
with which to operate. In non-Mathematica systems, that specific
form must be input to enable computation; with symbolically enhanced numeric
computing, Mathematica automatically transforms the provided
expression to reach this required form. The benefit of this approach
is crucial for ease of use: it enables a wide range of problems to be
input without a user's (sometimes complex) pencil-and-paper
transformation beforehand.
Additionally, this intelligent expression transformation cuts unnecessary
computations by getting expressions into the easiest-to-evaluate form,
sometimes even avoiding a failure of the computation where the
untransformed expression would have exhibited numerical instability.
Mathematica is unique in being equipped to take this approach because of
its mixed symbolic-numeric architecture and the range of its symbolic
transformation capabilities.