mathematical software

[kant]

I am interest in some type of mathematical solfwares. I heard mathematia is good, but i just think it is too expensive. I think it cost 1800 dollars for mathematica professionals, and 138 dollars for mathematia for students. Are there ways to get mathematica cheaper? If i do buy mathematica for student; how much to upgrade it to professional after i graduate? Are there cheaper math solfwares? perhaps some math freeware?

[D_Dean]

I guess the first question to ask is how powerful of a program do you want? What do you plan to use it for?

I actually don't know too much about whats out there but I received Matlab for free from my school (as a TA) and love it. There is a ton of stuff it is capable of that I'm pretty sure I wont use.

[kant]

i love math, so mathematica is a nice toy. on the professional side, I am also going to double major in physics and engineering

[Daverz]

Try maxima before spending money on mathematica:

http://maxima.sourceforge.net/

I might still get mathematica myself, as there are lots of books using it, and I couldn't figure out how to do space curves with maxima.

[VietDao29]

If you want some free mathematical softwares, then Maxima is one of the best. I used it for, like, years, and still love it. :approve: It can take limits, as well as derivatives, and integrals. :cool:
As Daverz pointed out, Maxima can be downloaded here (http://maxima.sourceforge.net/)
And if you want to work in some nicer environment, then you can also download wxMaxima, which is free, too, here (http://wxmaxima.sourceforge.net/).
Maple or Mathematica are decent softwares in mathematics. So if you can, just get one of them. They are both good. Maple has a more friendly environment, while Mathematica is famous for its fast and rigid calculation.

[chroot]

Maxima is a free Mathematica look-a-like.

Octave is a free MATLAB look-a-like.

Which you should use depends on whether you're doing symbolic math (where Mathematica excels) or doing numerical computation (where MATLAB excels).

- Warren

[robphy]

Maple is my favorite [for what I do].

I use gnuplot for quick and dirty plotting.