Affordable Mathematical Software for Students and Professionals

[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 what's 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 won't 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. It can take limits, as well as derivatives, and integrals.
As Daverz pointed out, Maxima can be downloaded here
And if you want to work in some nicer environment, then you can also download wxMaxima, which is free, too, 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.