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Stick with Python. Try SymPy.

by nl 2y ago

ultrasounder 2y ago
Great. Thanks. Any suggestions for a book or course that uses sympy to teach calculus( svc)?
- nl 2y ago
  https://www.coursera.org/learn/applied-calculus-with-python https://www.coursera.org/learn/applied-calculus-with-python https://www.udemy.com/course/pycalc1_x/ https://www.udemy.com/course/pycalc1_x/
ssivark 2y ago
I imagine a language with decent support for macros would be much much more ergonomic for symbolic computation. Even ignoring all the other pros & cons, just this one reason would push one strongly towards Julia, Lisp(s), Mathematica, etc for symbolic computation.
cfgauss2718 2y ago
Sympy is a poor tool to learn because it simply doesn’t scale to problems one most often encounters, even in schooling. Frankly, CAS are so general and unintelligent that problems with well known and elegant closed-form solutions, when presented to a system like sympy, result in an output which is often not even human readable - thousands of algebraic terms for instance to describe the equations of motion for a simple double pendulum. Personally I have found that the best tools are 1) a firm grasp of elementary calculus (differential, series, and integral) and 2) exposure to simple numerical methods that apply to a broad range of problems. Armed with this knowledge, in my opinion, Julia is a far superior language to python and its package ecosystem has a brighter future. Indeed, the language has been built with a focus on mathematical modeling and efficient numerical computation. It is a more natural starting point for those with an interest in mathematical modeling and engineering science, and will serve anyone who learns it better than python+numpy+sympy+scipy.
- terribleperson 2y ago
  As someone who's used Python but not Julia - when you say package ecosystem has a brighter future, does that include not needing several versions of Julia installed on my PC? That might sell me alone.
pjmlp 2y ago
And learn C and C++ in the process, because they will need them for "Python" libraries.

Stick with Python. Try SymPy.

by nl 2y ago

Stick with Python. Try SymPy.

ultrasounder 2y ago

Great. Thanks. Any suggestions for a book or course that uses sympy to teach calculus( svc)?

nl 2y ago
https://www.coursera.org/learn/applied-calculus-with-python https://www.coursera.org/learn/applied-calculus-with-python https://www.udemy.com/course/pycalc1_x/ https://www.udemy.com/course/pycalc1_x/

ssivark 2y ago

I imagine a language with decent support for macros would be much much more ergonomic for symbolic computation. Even ignoring all the other pros & cons, just this one reason would push one strongly towards Julia, Lisp(s), Mathematica, etc for symbolic computation.

cfgauss2718 2y ago

Sympy is a poor tool to learn because it simply doesn’t scale to problems one most often encounters, even in schooling. Frankly, CAS are so general and unintelligent that problems with well known and elegant closed-form solutions, when presented to a system like sympy, result in an output which is often not even human readable - thousands of algebraic terms for instance to describe the equations of motion for a simple double pendulum. Personally I have found that the best tools are 1) a firm grasp of elementary calculus (differential, series, and integral) and 2) exposure to simple numerical methods that apply to a broad range of problems. Armed with this knowledge, in my opinion, Julia is a far superior language to python and its package ecosystem has a brighter future. Indeed, the language has been built with a focus on mathematical modeling and efficient numerical computation. It is a more natural starting point for those with an interest in mathematical modeling and engineering science, and will serve anyone who learns it better than python+numpy+sympy+scipy.

terribleperson 2y ago
As someone who's used Python but not Julia - when you say package ecosystem has a brighter future, does that include not needing several versions of Julia installed on my PC? That might sell me alone.

pjmlp 2y ago

And learn C and C++ in the process, because they will need them for "Python" libraries.