8 ms·

Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

178 points by Jerry2 11y ago

thomasahle 11y ago
Examples are here: https://mathics.angusgriffith.com/doc/manual/examples/curve-sketching/ https://mathics.angusgriffith.com/doc/manual/examples/curve-... Having spent time learning the syntax of Mathematica, this seems like a nice interface to SymPy.
appleflaxen 11y ago
Another option is octave. https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ I've only used it a bit, but when I did it was adequate. Not sure how this compares to Mathics overall in terms of functionality, footprint though.
- nerdponx 11y ago
  Are you thinking of Matlab?
  - appleflaxen 11y ago
    Gah. Yes. Regrets.
- kzrdude 11y ago
  Octave is not a computer algebra system, so it's a bit different than this.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
zakjan 11y ago
Sage / Sagecloud is quite popular in academics in the Czech Republic.
- kzrdude 11y ago
  Yes bug Sage is weird. It's a sewed together giant of multiple parts, and the seams are quite apparent. It's also hard to install and get started with.
  - partycoder 11y ago
    This is not true anymore. In Windows it might be, but on Mac and Linux it's very straightforward.
  - apricot 11y ago
    Hard to install? It's one command ("pacman -S sagemath") in Arch and three commands in Ubuntu. Hard to get started with, I can agree with. Despite there being several tutorials, it's not as easy to start using out of the box as Mathematica.
  - tamana 11y ago
    Compared to what, though?
- sdenton4 11y ago
  Sage is fantastic! I used it for math research for years; it's python, and brings together many of the best open source math projects. So yeah, there are seams, but the seams are far less bad than (say) writing your own translation layer between the various components. And Sage has a large (and always growing) base of native functionality, as well. In fact, I'm pretty confused as to why someone would go to the trouble of trying to write a new, python-based mathematica alternative with Sage already quite established and equally free. (I guess keeping the Mathematica language is a motivation for someone who's tied to the mathematica world already, but I've always found it to be a write-only language...)
notthemessiah 11y ago
If you're looking for a mature alternative, Maxima CAS (http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/) is worth looking into. It doesn't aim for syntax compatibility with Mathematica as this does, but it is quite usable and fast.
- SixSigma 11y ago
  It's also available on Android. I used Maxima during my engineering course and found it rather useful for checking my differentiation and integration algebra.
- anc84 11y ago
  Also http://www.sympy.org/ http://www.sympy.org/
  - IndianAstronaut 11y ago
    Sympy is so simple and intuitive to use.
  - IndianAstronaut 11y ago
    Sympy is so simple and intuitive to use.
sandGorgon 11y ago
Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But what is the general use case? Even Mathworks has acknowledged the need to integrate with the huge R community out there - http://blog.wolfram.com/2013/05/22/why-would-a-mathematica-user-care-about-r/ http://blog.wolfram.com/2013/05/22/why-would-a-mathematica-u...
- maxpupmax 11y ago
  Well R and Pandas cover data analysis for the most part, while is is a computer algebra system? Seems like apples to oranges, really more comparable to sage/mathematica.
  - sandGorgon 11y ago
    What about http://rsymbolic.org http://rsymbolic.org and obviously symPy ?
    - gaur 11y ago
      > symPy ? Uhm... it says right at the top of the linked website that sympy is used as the backend.
      - sandGorgon 11y ago
        True - but the question stands. Why use it in the Mathematica way/syntax than by itself. Remember I'm not qualifying the value of this project as a replacement to Mathematica. I'm asking who is the segment bthat would use this as opposed to going directly to symPy or R.
        maxpupmax 11y ago
gaur 11y ago
Is sympy ever going to be able to do symbolic Padé approximation? That's the only thing keeping me from dumping Mathematica.
kzrdude 11y ago
Thanks for posting this, just for our awareness. The interface would be a lot easier to use if it had an integrated help system (help function?) and tab completion.
- sn6uv 11y ago
  The web interface does have inbuilt docs. Code introspection and tab completion are coming as part of the new interface (in progress) see https://github.com/mathics/IMathics https://github.com/mathics/IMathics
mvardin 11y ago
Or you could just use the real thing for free at https://www.open.wolframcloud.com/ https://www.open.wolframcloud.com/
- CullingTheHerd 11y ago
  "Mathics is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL)." There may be a few other differences you are not considering.
- UncleSlacky 11y ago
  Or even run it for free on a Raspberry Pi (or under a Pi emulation on a PC, albeit slowly).
  - tamana 11y ago
    Huh. Can you share links to documentation ofnthis strategy?
    - UncleSlacky 11y ago
      Sorry for the delay - I don't usually check for replies here: http://linux-mitterteich.de/fileadmin/datafile/papers/2013/qemu_raspiemu_lug_18_sep_2013.pdf http://linux-mitterteich.de/fileadmin/datafile/papers/2013/q...
- tamana 11y ago
  That's only free for demo usage. $120/yr for the lowest tier for non-trivial/toy projects.
oneloop 11y ago
Mathematica is a very complex piece of software. As an ex-physicist there's no way I would trust this completely unknown open source alternative.
- reikonomusha 11y ago
  But it's open source, and you can review what you'd like. You're unable to do that with Mathematica.
  - tagrun 11y ago
    Except that's not what we're being paid for and frankly, most physicists don't have time or knowledge to do that (our reality is "publish or perish", unfortunately).
  - oneloop 11y ago
    I have other things to do with my life, fortunately.
- gaur 11y ago
  You shouldn't trust Mathematica either. It has had bugs in the past [0]. Also it didn't have a proper "undo" feature until a year or so ago, which is pretty embarrassing. [0] http://www.ams.org/notices/201410/rnoti-p1249.pdf http://www.ams.org/notices/201410/rnoti-p1249.pdf
  - tagrun 11y ago
    I don't think his point was "Mathematica contains zero bugs".
  - oneloop 11y ago
    My point was "this piece of software surely has more bugs than Mathematica". What's your point? That because they both have a non-zero number of bugs we should be equally suspicious of both?
    - 11y ago
latkin 11y ago
The idea of Mathics is great - open-source, in-the-browser Mathematica clone - unfortunately the implementation is still sorely lacking. Last time I tried it (admittedly fairly long ago), even simple stuff just didn't work: https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/issues/260 https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/issues/260
tamana 11y ago
Mathics was abandoned a few years ago when the author got a job working on ... Take a guess as to what
- delhanty 11y ago
  GitHub shows significant activity in 2015, 2016: https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors It looks like sn6uv (Angus Griffith "a Mathematician and Programmer from Sydney Australia") has picked up the baton ...
  - sn6uv 11y ago
    That's right. Mathics is still maintained. There are currently two of us working on it. The last release was v0.9 in March this year.

178 points by Jerry2 11y ago

Examples are here: https://mathics.angusgriffith.com/doc/manual/examples/curve-sketching/ https://mathics.angusgriffith.com/doc/manual/examples/curve-... Having spent time learning the syntax of Mathematica, this seems like a nice interface to SymPy.

appleflaxen 11y ago

Another option is octave. https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ I've only used it a bit, but when I did it was adequate. Not sure how this compares to Mathics overall in terms of functionality, footprint though.

nerdponx 11y ago
Are you thinking of Matlab?
- appleflaxen 11y ago
  Gah. Yes. Regrets.
kzrdude 11y ago
Octave is not a computer algebra system, so it's a bit different than this.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

zakjan 11y ago

Sage / Sagecloud is quite popular in academics in the Czech Republic.

kzrdude 11y ago
Yes bug Sage is weird. It's a sewed together giant of multiple parts, and the seams are quite apparent. It's also hard to install and get started with.
- partycoder 11y ago
  This is not true anymore. In Windows it might be, but on Mac and Linux it's very straightforward.
- apricot 11y ago
  Hard to install? It's one command ("pacman -S sagemath") in Arch and three commands in Ubuntu. Hard to get started with, I can agree with. Despite there being several tutorials, it's not as easy to start using out of the box as Mathematica.
- tamana 11y ago
  Compared to what, though?
sdenton4 11y ago
Sage is fantastic! I used it for math research for years; it's python, and brings together many of the best open source math projects. So yeah, there are seams, but the seams are far less bad than (say) writing your own translation layer between the various components. And Sage has a large (and always growing) base of native functionality, as well. In fact, I'm pretty confused as to why someone would go to the trouble of trying to write a new, python-based mathematica alternative with Sage already quite established and equally free. (I guess keeping the Mathematica language is a motivation for someone who's tied to the mathematica world already, but I've always found it to be a write-only language...)

notthemessiah 11y ago

If you're looking for a mature alternative, Maxima CAS (http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/) is worth looking into. It doesn't aim for syntax compatibility with Mathematica as this does, but it is quite usable and fast.

SixSigma 11y ago
It's also available on Android. I used Maxima during my engineering course and found it rather useful for checking my differentiation and integration algebra.
anc84 11y ago
Also http://www.sympy.org/ http://www.sympy.org/
- IndianAstronaut 11y ago
  Sympy is so simple and intuitive to use.
- IndianAstronaut 11y ago
  Sympy is so simple and intuitive to use.

sandGorgon 11y ago

Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But what is the general use case? Even Mathworks has acknowledged the need to integrate with the huge R community out there - http://blog.wolfram.com/2013/05/22/why-would-a-mathematica-user-care-about-r/ http://blog.wolfram.com/2013/05/22/why-would-a-mathematica-u...

maxpupmax 11y ago
Well R and Pandas cover data analysis for the most part, while is is a computer algebra system? Seems like apples to oranges, really more comparable to sage/mathematica.
- sandGorgon 11y ago
  What about http://rsymbolic.org http://rsymbolic.org and obviously symPy ?
  - gaur 11y ago
    > symPy ? Uhm... it says right at the top of the linked website that sympy is used as the backend.
    - sandGorgon 11y ago
      True - but the question stands. Why use it in the Mathematica way/syntax than by itself. Remember I'm not qualifying the value of this project as a replacement to Mathematica. I'm asking who is the segment bthat would use this as opposed to going directly to symPy or R.
      - maxpupmax 11y ago

gaur 11y ago

Is sympy ever going to be able to do symbolic Padé approximation? That's the only thing keeping me from dumping Mathematica.

kzrdude 11y ago

Thanks for posting this, just for our awareness. The interface would be a lot easier to use if it had an integrated help system (help function?) and tab completion.

sn6uv 11y ago
The web interface does have inbuilt docs. Code introspection and tab completion are coming as part of the new interface (in progress) see https://github.com/mathics/IMathics https://github.com/mathics/IMathics

mvardin 11y ago

Or you could just use the real thing for free at https://www.open.wolframcloud.com/ https://www.open.wolframcloud.com/

CullingTheHerd 11y ago
"Mathics is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL)." There may be a few other differences you are not considering.
UncleSlacky 11y ago
Or even run it for free on a Raspberry Pi (or under a Pi emulation on a PC, albeit slowly).
- tamana 11y ago
  Huh. Can you share links to documentation ofnthis strategy?
  - UncleSlacky 11y ago
    Sorry for the delay - I don't usually check for replies here: http://linux-mitterteich.de/fileadmin/datafile/papers/2013/qemu_raspiemu_lug_18_sep_2013.pdf http://linux-mitterteich.de/fileadmin/datafile/papers/2013/q...
tamana 11y ago
That's only free for demo usage. $120/yr for the lowest tier for non-trivial/toy projects.

oneloop 11y ago

Mathematica is a very complex piece of software. As an ex-physicist there's no way I would trust this completely unknown open source alternative.

reikonomusha 11y ago
But it's open source, and you can review what you'd like. You're unable to do that with Mathematica.
- tagrun 11y ago
  Except that's not what we're being paid for and frankly, most physicists don't have time or knowledge to do that (our reality is "publish or perish", unfortunately).
- oneloop 11y ago
  I have other things to do with my life, fortunately.
gaur 11y ago
You shouldn't trust Mathematica either. It has had bugs in the past [0]. Also it didn't have a proper "undo" feature until a year or so ago, which is pretty embarrassing. [0] http://www.ams.org/notices/201410/rnoti-p1249.pdf http://www.ams.org/notices/201410/rnoti-p1249.pdf
- tagrun 11y ago
  I don't think his point was "Mathematica contains zero bugs".
- oneloop 11y ago
  My point was "this piece of software surely has more bugs than Mathematica". What's your point? That because they both have a non-zero number of bugs we should be equally suspicious of both?
  - 11y ago

latkin 11y ago

The idea of Mathics is great - open-source, in-the-browser Mathematica clone - unfortunately the implementation is still sorely lacking. Last time I tried it (admittedly fairly long ago), even simple stuff just didn't work: https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/issues/260 https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/issues/260

tamana 11y ago

Mathics was abandoned a few years ago when the author got a job working on ... Take a guess as to what

delhanty 11y ago
GitHub shows significant activity in 2015, 2016: https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors It looks like sn6uv (Angus Griffith "a Mathematician and Programmer from Sydney Australia") has picked up the baton ...
- sn6uv 11y ago
  That's right. Mathics is still maintained. There are currently two of us working on it. The last release was v0.9 in March this year.