As a physics student, I often used maxima for assignments, because while I did have access to Mathematica on lab computers, having a CAS on my laptop was often

As a physics student, I often used maxima for assignments, because while I did have access to Mathematica on lab computers, having a CAS on my laptop was often more convenient. In general, it was able to do what I needed just as well as Mathematica, though with different syntax.