4 ms·

Mathematica is a commercial product: https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/pricing/ https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/pricing/

caycep 3y ago
Who uses Mathematica, in this age of python/Julia etc? The Grad student world seems to be captured by Matlab
- LeoPanthera 3y ago
  Every university on the planet uses Mathematica, and many schools too.
  - plumeria 3y ago
    Also Maple. Many non CS folks use Matlab over Python.
- natebc 3y ago
  I work at a mid-size private university in the US. We hold a license for both Matlab and Mathematica. Both are used in our labs and for independent study and coursework.
  - Onawa 3y ago
    I believe that NIH also licenses Matlab for use on BioWulf, but I never see more than a license or two being used at any given time. Pretty much everyone I work with uses R or Python.
    - caycep 3y ago
      it would be nice in my field...a lot of computational neuroscience projects seem to default to MATLAB, so i have to keep my license active to use them, although I feel like Python is making inroads.
- flexagoon 3y ago
  Also, if you don't need to run Mathematica offline, their cloud version of it is completely free (with some storage limits that you're unlikely to exceed). It's actually a pretty cool product, but the pricing model is a mess.
  - bluish29 3y ago
    If you are doing anything serious then your problem will be the free cloud cpu limits. This is why most peoplr would prefer offline version. Also many universities and institutions will have policies against doing this work on the cloud (data policies... etc)
- tzs 3y ago
  You know how Python is described as "batteries included" because it has a lot of things in its standard library that in most other languages would require downloading and installing third party libraries? Mathematica is "nuclear power plant" included. It includes not only a very wide range of functions but also a huge amount of data. For example several years ago they started adding data on biological organisms. They now have data on over a million species of animals, with hundreds of properties for most of them. You could for example with one simple command get a scatter plot showing bird weight vs bird lifespan. Or for mammals lifespan vs number of teeth. It's just a ridiculous amount of data and it is all easily accessible for computing and graphing. Same for astronomy. It has a ton of data about the solar system. It's got physical properties of numerous bodies, and orbital data too, and it has functions for various astronomical computations. So if you wanted to see how the distance between Mars and Earth varies over time it is a simply command to get a plot of that over say the last 50 years. Want a list of all geological formations where T. rex have been found? It can make that list for you, because it has a bunch of geological formation data and it has a bunch of dinosaur data. They've got data on countries, and cities, and geography, and demographics, and economics, and more. Other systems can beat Mathematica in specific areas, but nothing else comes near its breadth, and in those specific areas where something else beats it it is still usually decent in those areas.
- jokteur 3y ago
  Mathematica is still unparalleled in computer algebra. Yes, you can do computer algebra with Matlab or sympy, but I know a few theoreticians who use Mathematica to derive complicated equations.
- trollerator23 3y ago
  I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this but... people who work on scientific computing or engineering and value their time choose Matlab and Mathematica over Python. Source: I've used Matlab and Python extensively, Mathematica a little (never Julia so I don't know) I gave Python a good shot but gave up. A beautiful language but what a waste of time trying to get any simulation going.

caycep 3y ago

Who uses Mathematica, in this age of python/Julia etc? The Grad student world seems to be captured by Matlab

LeoPanthera 3y ago
Every university on the planet uses Mathematica, and many schools too.
- plumeria 3y ago
  Also Maple. Many non CS folks use Matlab over Python.
natebc 3y ago
I work at a mid-size private university in the US. We hold a license for both Matlab and Mathematica. Both are used in our labs and for independent study and coursework.
- Onawa 3y ago
  I believe that NIH also licenses Matlab for use on BioWulf, but I never see more than a license or two being used at any given time. Pretty much everyone I work with uses R or Python.
  - caycep 3y ago
    it would be nice in my field...a lot of computational neuroscience projects seem to default to MATLAB, so i have to keep my license active to use them, although I feel like Python is making inroads.
flexagoon 3y ago
Also, if you don't need to run Mathematica offline, their cloud version of it is completely free (with some storage limits that you're unlikely to exceed). It's actually a pretty cool product, but the pricing model is a mess.
- bluish29 3y ago
  If you are doing anything serious then your problem will be the free cloud cpu limits. This is why most peoplr would prefer offline version. Also many universities and institutions will have policies against doing this work on the cloud (data policies... etc)
tzs 3y ago
You know how Python is described as "batteries included" because it has a lot of things in its standard library that in most other languages would require downloading and installing third party libraries? Mathematica is "nuclear power plant" included. It includes not only a very wide range of functions but also a huge amount of data. For example several years ago they started adding data on biological organisms. They now have data on over a million species of animals, with hundreds of properties for most of them. You could for example with one simple command get a scatter plot showing bird weight vs bird lifespan. Or for mammals lifespan vs number of teeth. It's just a ridiculous amount of data and it is all easily accessible for computing and graphing. Same for astronomy. It has a ton of data about the solar system. It's got physical properties of numerous bodies, and orbital data too, and it has functions for various astronomical computations. So if you wanted to see how the distance between Mars and Earth varies over time it is a simply command to get a plot of that over say the last 50 years. Want a list of all geological formations where T. rex have been found? It can make that list for you, because it has a bunch of geological formation data and it has a bunch of dinosaur data. They've got data on countries, and cities, and geography, and demographics, and economics, and more. Other systems can beat Mathematica in specific areas, but nothing else comes near its breadth, and in those specific areas where something else beats it it is still usually decent in those areas.
jokteur 3y ago
Mathematica is still unparalleled in computer algebra. Yes, you can do computer algebra with Matlab or sympy, but I know a few theoreticians who use Mathematica to derive complicated equations.
trollerator23 3y ago
I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this but... people who work on scientific computing or engineering and value their time choose Matlab and Mathematica over Python. Source: I've used Matlab and Python extensively, Mathematica a little (never Julia so I don't know) I gave Python a good shot but gave up. A beautiful language but what a waste of time trying to get any simulation going.