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Orwell
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Joined: Aug 09, 2007
Age: 19
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 Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Mathematica or Maple? |
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OK, so I'm getting a major in math and was considering investing in some nice mathematics software. I can purchase either from my university. Maple is cheaper but the license expires when I graduate.
Does anyone have an opinion as to which of these programs is better or more useful? I have no idea what the differences between them are, so any input would be appreciated.
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coregazer
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 22, 2008
Posts: 450
Location: Uk, England, Cheshire
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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im really sorry... the following post probably isn't all that constructive:...
wich maple, maple syrup or maple story? ^^. sorry again. i know nowhting of that kind of thing. good luck 
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richie
Ye Olde Bookwyrme
Joined: Jan 10, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 12016
Location: Lake Whoop-Dee-Doo, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: Mathematica or Maple? |
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| Orwell wrote: | OK, so I'm getting a major in math and was considering investing in some nice mathematics software. I can purchase either from my university. Maple is cheaper but the license expires when I graduate.
Does anyone have an opinion as to which of these programs is better or more useful? I have no idea what the differences between them are, so any input would be appreciated. |
I had both a student and then the professional version of Mathematica back in the early 1990s. I liked the graphics it
produced, and it was quite useful for circuit analysis and financial calculations and recreational number theory.
You can probably find a Windows or Linux version on E-Bay at bargain prices, or try Amazon.com.
I have yet to try out Maxima... http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
Around that time I also had MathCad.
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DNForrest
Toucan
Joined: Jan 19, 2008
Age: 24
Posts: 278
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, I've never used Mathematica, but I have used both Maple and Matlab. Out of the two I prefer Maple, by and far. |
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chever
'Mud'
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 1668
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:00 am Post subject: Re: Mathematica or Maple? |
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| richie wrote: | | Orwell wrote: | OK, so I'm getting a major in math and was considering investing in some nice mathematics software. I can purchase either from my university. Maple is cheaper but the license expires when I graduate.
Does anyone have an opinion as to which of these programs is better or more useful? I have no idea what the differences between them are, so any input would be appreciated. |
I had both a student and then the professional version of Mathematica back in the early 1990s. I liked the graphics it
produced, and it was quite useful for circuit analysis and financial calculations and recreational number theory.
You can probably find a Windows or Linux version on E-Bay at bargain prices, or try Amazon.com.
I have yet to try out Maxima... http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
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I was about to say ... Maxima fucking kicks ass
Octave is also very good
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cozmocha
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Sep 17, 2008
Age: 21
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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I used maple a few years about to do simple integrals and basics. Nothing more then what a TI-89 would do and it did work pretty well.
Now I use matlab but I'm an mechanical engineering major so it may not be what you want. I do know a math major that does a lot of work with matlab. I have a professor that uses mathcad but I never have.
It all depends on what you want to do. |
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chever
'Mud'
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 1668
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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I have a problem with all these scientific computing packages.
They provide a lot of great tools.
Then they glue them together with an unfamiliar and invariably shitty programming language.
Why?
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yesplease
Velociraptor
Joined: Dec 29, 2006
Age: 102
Posts: 434
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:23 am Post subject: |
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| I second Octave! W/ the money you would've spend on the software go buy a buncha books wrt analysis/algebra/topology/what have ya. You can pickup international editions of some great stuff for pennies on the dollar. |
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chever
'Mud'
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 1668
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:26 am Post subject: |
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http://www.abebooks.com
best place to buy books period
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cozmocha
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Sep 17, 2008
Age: 21
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:09 am Post subject: |
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since this is my 5th post you'll have to copy and paste
dealoz dot com
This is where you get books |
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chever
'Mud'
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 1668
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: |
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This site looks pretty cool
However, I should humbly observe that abebooks offers non-textbooks
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Orwell
Outer Party Member
Joined: Aug 09, 2007
Age: 19
Posts: 4243
Location: Room 101
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:41 am Post subject: |
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I have several sources of free textbooks, such as Textbook Revolution, Open Culture, the Assayer, etc. I'm just wondering what to do for math software. I think I'll try out some of the free alternatives and see how they do. A friend of mine managed somehow to get Maple for free, so maybe she'll let me try it out long enough that I can compare it. And I believe there are computers somewhere on campus with Mathematica installed, so I'll try to find those as well.
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cozmocha
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Sep 17, 2008
Age: 21
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: |
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| If they don't offer a trial try emailing them saying that you are a student and would like to try it out. I tried that with solidworks and they sent me a link and code for a 60 day trial. |
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chever
'Mud'
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 1668
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| Orwell wrote: | | I have several sources of free textbooks, such as Textbook Revolution, Open Culture, the Assayer, etc. I'm just wondering what to do for math software. I think I'll try out some of the free alternatives and see how they do. A friend of mine managed somehow to get Maple for free, so maybe she'll let me try it out long enough that I can compare it. And I believe there are computers somewhere on campus with Mathematica installed, so I'll try to find those as well. |
It would help greatly if we knew what fields of math you need to work in, what methods you need to use, etc.
For example MATLAB/Octave doesn't handle symbols quite as well as a bona fide CAS like Maxima; they're mostly for a lot of number crunching. On the other hand, many CAS lack some of these tools.
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Orwell
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:30 am Post subject: |
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| chever wrote: | It would help greatly if we knew what fields of math you need to work in, what methods you need to use, etc.
For example MATLAB/Octave doesn't handle symbols quite as well as a bona fide CAS like Maxima; they're mostly for a lot of number crunching. On the other hand, many CAS lack some of these tools. |
That's true. Right now I'm working on some linear algebra, so ability to handle matrices would be a nice feature. In a semester or two I'll probably have some fun differential equations to mess with. I was partially wondering what exactly the differences were between these programs, whether any of them can do things the others can't. Since I don't have a very specific area of math that I'm deeply interested in, I suppose that a program that was more versatile than the others would be best.
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