Finding the Right Math Software for Summer Calculus Class

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around finding suitable mathematical software for teaching a summer calculus class, particularly focusing on open-source alternatives to Maple and Mathematica. Participants explore options like Octave, Scilab, Maxima, and Sage, as well as address specific coding issues encountered in Octave.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks a live coding environment similar to Maple or Mathematica for teaching calculus, expressing interest in Scilab or Maxima as potential alternatives.
  • Another participant suggests Sage as a possible software option for the class.
  • A different participant describes a specific coding issue encountered while using Octave, comparing it to MATLAB and seeking alternatives for a particular function that is causing an error.
  • There is a claim that MATLAB and Octave are nearly identical in functionality and performance, with some uncertainty regarding Octave's capabilities for derivatives and integrals.
  • A suggestion is made to consult the help documentation for the 'fread' function in both Octave and MATLAB to identify differences that may be causing the error.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying opinions on the effectiveness of Octave compared to MATLAB, with some suggesting it is sufficient for the intended tasks, while others highlight specific limitations or issues. There is no consensus on the best software choice or resolution of the coding problem.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention specific versions of software and functions, indicating potential dependencies on software updates or differences in implementation that may affect compatibility and performance.

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In a couple weeks, I'm going to be teaching a summer calculus class and I wanted to introduce my students to the mathematical software that can be used. However, where I teach they do not have maple or mathematica, so I have to use one of the open source programs (octave, maxima, scilab etc).

I tired Octave, but I want to use a program that has a live coding sheet. AKA, I want it to be more similar to maple or mathematica, in that I can type code and a graph will appear on bottom and then type more code below that.

Would Scilab or maxima give me what I want or is there something I can download for use with octave? I'm not really wedded to using octave...I just want to give a basic introduction to mathematical programming (ie..graphing, solving systems of equations, derivatives, integrals, if and for loops for basic algorithms).
 
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Need Help with Octave

hi
Am doing a project on a GNU Octave 3.2.4
i written a code in MATLAB but i tried the same code in GNU Octave , there I am getting an error.

error at the below line:

data(i,1)=fread (fid,1,'bit48=>double','b');

i think error is occurring because of the "bit" operation. is there any alternative operation for this in OCTAVE.

the same program is running successfully in MATLAB.
please help me in this.

thanks
 
Matlab and Octave are almost the same. Even the performance is similar. Spam like removed. You can successfully use octave for graphing, solving systems of equations and algorithms. I'm not sure about derivatives and integrals but I'm not and experienced octave user.

dkantri: I would suggest to type "help fread" to read more details about this function. Do the same in mathlab to see if there are differences. You could also post the error in which you can see the column where the error occurs. It could be bit wise transformation or some path mismatch...
 
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