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I've used Mathematica for 24 years now, and I quite like it. It was especially helpful when I was in school, for working on my homework. The fact that it could
by cschmidt 13y ago
I've used Mathematica for 24 years now, and I quite like it. It was especially helpful when I was in school, for working on my homework. The fact that it could do symbolic calculus, and do algebra without making any mistakes helped a ton. These sorts of problems....
In[1]:= D[x^2 Sin[x], x]
Out[1]= x^2 Cos[x] + 2 x Sin[x]
In[8]:= Integrate[Sin[x], {x, 0, c}]
Out[8]= 1 - Cos[c]
In[10]:= Solve[{x + 23 y + x^2 == 46, x - y == 234}, {x, y}]
Out[10]= {{x -> 2 (-6 - Sqrt[1393]), y -> 2 (-123 - Sqrt[1393])},
{x -> 2 (-6 + Sqrt[1393]), y -> 2 (-123 + Sqrt[1393])}}
I love ipython as well, but it can't do that sort of thing.
- baldfat 13y agoYou can with Sage: http://ask.sagemath.org/question/3142/is-it-possible-to-run-a-sage-in-ipython-notebook http://ask.sagemath.org/question/3142/is-it-possible-to-run-...
- ris 13y ago> I love ipython as well, but it can't do that sort of thing. I love the amount of investigation people put into this sort of thing before making blanket statements like this. >>> diff ( x**2 * sin ( x ) , x ) 2 x *cos(x) + 2*x*sin(x) >>> integrate ( sin ( x ) , ( x , 0 , c ) ) -cos(c) + 1 >>> solve ( [ Eq ( x + 23 * y + x**2 , 46 ) , Eq ( x - y , 234 ) ] ) ______ ______ [{x: -12 + 2*\/ 1393 , y: -246 + 2*\/ 1393 }, ______ ______ {x: - 2*\/ 1393 - 12, y: -246 - 2*\/ 1393 }] Try it for yourself: http://live.sympy.org/ http://live.sympy.org/ I am no sympy expert at all - I figured it all out in the time since I read your comment. But of course I'm sure you love ipython as well. (edit - fixed copy&pasting stupidness)
- cschmidt 13y agoThanks for pointing out sympy, I hadn't heard of it. I'm not sure why you're being sarcastic, I basically write python code full time. I'm quite familar with it, so I felt qualified to comment without doing any 'investigation'. I use ipython with the normal numpy/matplotlib/scipy numerical approach. You knew something I didn't, congratulations.
- ris 13y agoSorry I just thought it was impossible to not know about the whole python math stack being an actual ipython user, so assumed you were just paying lip service.
- boomlinde 13y agoHow does writing python qualify you to pose things you don't know are true as facts?
- cschmidt 13y agoIt qualifies me to talk about the python ecosystem, which I know quite well. I said something I thought was true, but wasn't. That's an honest mistake. I was unaware of a library, maybe even one that is well known. I was quite surprised I had missed something, and I said 'thanks for pointing that out'. I imagine it was a blind spot for me, as I always reach for Mathematica for symbolic work, so it just wasn't something I noticed. I would never say things about ruby libraries, for example, as I don't know anything about it. I might say the same thing about R or matlab, which I do. In the immortal words of pg: When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." As in, 'python actually can do symbolic computation, see http://sympy.org' http://sympy.org' 'Oh, thanks. You're right'
- boomlinde 13y agoI'm not blaming you for being wrong. I just don't think that having a good idea about the python ecosystem qualifies denying that you can do symbolic calculus, more than knowing how to sail qualifies you to say that the earth is flat.