Abstract: α decay in nuclear physics is a typical quantum tunnel effect. The tunneling model can well describe the experimental results of α decay, which contains abundant physics thoughts and clever mathematic processing. However, the mathematical derivations and calculations are very complicated for the tunneling model. Therefore, in order to avoid the complicated mathematical calculations and directly embody the physical concept, the Mathematica are introduced to carry out the teaching of tunneling model for α decay. With the strong function of sign-reducing and numerical calculation, the complicated mathematical derivations and numerical calculations can be easily accomplished. By visualizing the theoretical results of different nuclear potential, Mathematica can also dynamically display the physical picture of tunneling model of α decay. Introducing the mathematical software in nuclear physical teaching can effectively increase teaching efficiency, develop the students' self-regulated learning ability, and improve the teaching quality.

Key words: &alpha, decay, tunneling model, half life, Mathematica