Re: Maple vs. Mathematica
- From: Ray Vickson <RGVickson@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:59:27 -0800 (PST)
On Feb 15, 10:56 pm, genericaudioperson
<genericaudioper...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello,
I am looking to purchase either Maple or Mathematica. It does not
seem that either have a trial demo version, so I am left to guess.
What would make someone buy one versus the other? This is for study
purposes (advanced calculus, linear algebra, differential equations,
etc.).
First priority:
I would be using the software to help me study and learn mathematics
better.
Second priority:
I would like to be able to create and print documents with mathematics
equations easily, and have it look very good (like a textbook).
Being able to enter equations easily and have it look proper (i.e. 2-D
typesetting) is important.
In Maple you can export equations and the like to a LaTeX file, then
incorporate it in a document. You can save a graphic in various
formats and then import it into a document. As for LaTeX itself, there
are numerous free versions available on line; check with the newsgroup
'comp.text.tex' for more details, etc., or go the the CTAN website. I
suppose Mathematica also allows for LaTeX export, but since I am not a
Mathematica user I cannot guarantee this.
Newer versions of Maple (Maple 11+) allow you to compose and typeset
mathematical documents right in the web page itself. However, I think
it would still be easier and more efficient to produce the documents
in LaTeX and just import the files.
Third priority:
To be able to save these printed pages that I create as platform-
independent graphics files (i.e. bitmap, tiff or jpeg, with good
resolution. Or at least be able to export as a PDF document.
It seems like Mathematica has advanced 3D graphics features, but that
mabye Maple is easier to work with for basic math study and
computation.
Maple is very powerful, and can do an amazing variety of highly
sophisticated tasks. In various discussions of Maple vs. Mathematica,
it often turns out that the two systems are similar in their power and
scope, with Mathematica having somewhat better graphics but Maple
being somewhat more user friendly for many tasks. Certainly
Mathematica has better marketing.
R.G. Vickson
It seems that Maple may have some good instructional
information in it... kind of like a mini textbook to study math as you
learn the software. Since I'm not interested at this point in
advanced graphics, maybe Maple is a better choice for a student.
.
- References:
- Maple vs. Mathematica
- From: genericaudioperson
- Maple vs. Mathematica
- Prev by Date: Re: Runge-Kutta method
- Next by Date: Re: paper claiming projective planes must have prime power order
- Previous by thread: Re: Maple vs. Mathematica
- Next by thread: n^2+1=0 mod.(3805^2)
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
