Fixing Unexplainable Weirdness in Mathematica

There are times when Mathematica pays the price for being as ambitious as it is - it gets itself into situations it can't handle. This can be dealt with by clearing out the mess that was made, and re-starting the task in an orderly manner. As the user, you don't have to alter your notebook to do this, just click two items in the menu and mathematica will to the rest.

Use this whenever mathematica doesn't seem to be doing what you tell it to. If the results don't change, then check over the contents of your notebook, paying special attention to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. The help browser is your friend.

First, mathematica's memory needs to be cleared. Do this by selecting "Quit Kernel" from the "Kernel" menu:

Then, select "Evaluate Notebook" from the "Kernel" menu. This will execute each of the lines in your notebook, in order, from top to bottom: