Real seismic data is not always necessary for algorithm development; however the ability to input seismic data collected or generated elsewhere is important. Seismic files may be represented within Mathematica as matrices and then processed and displayed. Since the SEP format used at the Stanford Exploration Project is the most common data format here, a program was needed to convert SEP format to the external Mathematica matrix format. Mathematica matrix format does not support the FORTRAN E format, and care must be taken to retain the numerical range of the input. A program listing of the routine used here is given in the appendix.
Once an SEP file is converted to Mathematica matrix format, the data are input into a Mathematica session by entering:
a = << wz25.m;
This expression takes the external file `wz25.m' and creates the matrix `a'. The size and type of the matrix are automatically taken from the input and do not need to be prespecified. Notice the `;' following the command. This is needed to avoid having Mathematica print out the matrix after it is input. Seismic files are generally too large to make the standard matrix printout useful.