Maple vs Mathematica: Which is Right for You?

[offtheleft]

i have 'little' experience with mathematica and no experience with maple. anyone have any information on maple?

 

[mgb_phys]

They are pretty similair, both will do more than you will ever need (or understand!)
asking which to use is like coke/pepsi - probably better to base it on what your teachers/colleagues/department uses.

 

[Dale]

My experience with Maple is several years old, but I found it much less stable than Mathematica.

 

[John_Phillips]

Maple circa the mid 1990's was not great. Current Maple is far better. However, I agree with mgb_phys that it is a nearly religious choice and the best way to make it is to see what the people you want to trade information with use.

 

[rootX]

"anyone have any information on maple? "

http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~ece250/Online/Maple/

They are similar but it is better to have a good knowledge of both.

I am Matlab!

 

[offtheleft]

"anyone have any information on maple? "

http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~ece250/Online/Maple/

They are similar but it is better to have a good knowledge of both.

I am Matlab!

matlab sent me a cd in the mail but for some reason I can't install it. I'm just going to get maple anyway. It only costs like two hundred dollars.

 

[Dale]

Maple circa the mid 1990's was not great. Current Maple is far better.

My Maple experience was around 1996.

 

[Nick M]

I would use what your classes use. If you take something that requires you to use one of these software packages during an exam, you are going to need to know all the proper syntax to make efficient use of your time.

I've never used maple, but I did use Mathematica on a daily basis in a couple of my past classes. I found it to be very versatile, but extremely picky and unhelpful when I had done something as simple as not capitalizing the first letter of a function. That said, it seems like the schools in my area use it extensively. I'm planning to pick up a student copy for myself... about $150 I believe. I will say that in both classes I never had it crash a single time.