# Mathematica modules

In Mathematica, a module is an extended function that may perform several steps. An advantage of a module is that it may declare and define local variables which can be used inside the module but not in the global scope. It is generally good programming practice to keep variables inside as local a scope as possible, because variables in global scope can conflict with each other if you are not careful to keep track of their names.

## A module for solving the KdV equation

Below is an example usage of a module. The module solat computes the solution to the KdV equation

$u_t + 6uu_x + u_{xxx} = 0$

at a desired time tm, given initial data data0. It uses a split-step pseudospectral integrator, whose details, as well as an equivalent code in Matlab, can be found at Wikiwaves. (Note that their Matlab code makes reference to $k$, the angular wavenumber, whereas this code uses $\nu$, which is equal to $k / (2\pi)$.

nx = 128;
xmax = 1;
dx = 1/nx;
xs = Range[0, xmax - dx, dx];
numax = 1/(2*dx);
dnu = 1/xmax;
nus = Join[Range[0, numax - dnu, dnu], Range[-numax, -dnu, dnu]];

u0[x_] := Sin[6 Pi x];
data = u0 /@ xs;

solat[tmax_, data_] :=
Module[{t = 0, dft = Fourier[data], dt = 0.4/nx^2, dft1 = 0, sol = 0},
While[t < tmax,
dt = Min[dt, tmax - t];
dft1 = dft*Exp[I (2 Pi nus)^3 dt];
dft = dft1 - 3 I 2 Pi nus dt Fourier[InverseFourier[dft1]^2];
t += dt;
];
sol = Re[InverseFourier[dft]];
sol
]


We declare the variables t, dft, dt, dft1 and sol as local to the module, and initialise them to sensible values. (Note that dft1 and sol has been initialised to 0; this is completely arbitrary, because this value will be overwritten a few lines later.)

The last line inside the module, sol, simply causes sol to be returned from the module.

## A module for solving the sine-Gordon equation

We now consider the sine-Gordon equation

$\phi_{tt} - \phi_{xx} + \sin\phi = 0.$

Like KdV, the sine-Gordon equation is quasilinear, in the sense that no term contains any nonlinear function of a derivative. Moreover, in both equations there is only one nonlinear term and no inhomogeneities; the rest are linear and may be treated easily. From a computational perspective, the most important difference between the two is that the sine-Gordon equation is second-order in time. We first write it as a pair of coupled first-order equations:

$\phi_t = \psi \text{ and } \psi_t = \phi_{xx} - \sin\phi.$

This system can now be solved using a split-step pseudospectral method, much like the above, except that we must keep track of both dynamical variables $\phi$ and $\latex \psi$. The derivation of this is a bit messy, but follows the same principle of evolving the linear parts of the equations separately from the nonlinear part. Here is the Mathematica code:

nx = 128;
xmax = 1;
dx = 1/nx;
xs = Range[0, xmax - dx, dx];
numax = 1/(2*dx);
dnu = 1/xmax;
nus = Join[Range[0, numax - dnu, dnu], Range[-numax, -dnu, dnu]];

u0[x_] := Sin[6 Pi x];
data = u0 /@ xs;
sinegordonsol[tmax_, phi0_, psi0_] := Module[
{t = 0, phift = Fourier[phi0], psift = Fourier[psi0],
dt = 0.4/nx^2,
phift1 = 0, psift1 = 0, sol = 0},
While[t < tmax,
dt = Min[dt, tmax - t];
phift1 = phift Cos[dt] + psift Sin[dt];
psift1 = psift Cos[dt] - phift Sin[dt];
phift = phift1;
psift = psift1 - Fourier[Sin[InverseFourier[phift]]] dt;
t += dt;
];
sol = Re[InverseFourier[phift]];
sol
]


To use it, do something like

sgs = sinegordonsol[1, data, 0*data];
ListLinePlot[Transpose[{xs, sgs}]]


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