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Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

mathics.github.io

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Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#21

Post by zbjornson »

sandGorgon wrote: post #9

Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But…

In addition to what others have said, Mathematicas's graphics abilities make R feel like a TI-83 graphing calculator. (When was the last time you had to discuss JPEG as a "graphics device?")

The documentation is also incredibly better - every symbol/function has examples that have already been run so you can scan for a result that looks like what you need and see how they did it, and then play with the example in the documentation notebook.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#22

Post by pklausler »

sandGorgon wrote: post #9

Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But…

> Even Mathworks has acknowledged the need to integrate with the huge R community out there -

You mean Mathematica, yes?

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#23

Post by okyup »

sandGorgon wrote: post #9

Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But…

Ease of use.

Python is hard to learn to use for math. It requires a strong programming and math background.

Mathematica's syntax is more natural and it doesn't require learning numerous different packages and figuring out how to stitch them together - it just works. Graphing is more convenient, too.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#26

Post by vixen99 »

sandGorgon wrote: post #13
sifusam wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barrier of entry would be what I would consider the primary use case for using all of these vs Pandas and R. If we look at Mathics only, it features a Mathematica compatible syntax which allows users familiar with the syntax to be up, running and productive with the tool much quicker. Mathics also provides a notebook, however others do as well as optional downloads. R has RStudio, and you can use Jupyter for Pandas.

Interesting. But then my question is how big is the user base that WANTS to use Mathematica but cannot AFFORD it? Because for a first time user just hunting for a symbolic math, the buy in might not be there.

As the documentation says "Mathics will probably never have the power to compete with Mathematica® in industrial applications; yet, it might be an interesting alternative for educational purposes.". Moreover unlike Mathematica, anyone can examine the code, a definite plus for students.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#27

Post by appleflaxen »

nerdponx wrote: post #4
appleflaxen wrote: post #3

Another option is octave. https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ I've only used it a bit, but when I did it was adequate. Not sure how this compares to Mathics overall in terms of functionality, footprint though.

Are you thinking of Matlab?

Gah. Yes. Regrets.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#28

Post by CullingTheHerd »

dekhn wrote: post #17
sandGorgon wrote: post #9

Genuine question - what is the use of all these versus something like R or Pandas that is actually usable in production as well. What is missing in R/Pandas that makes people choose other pieces of software that does something very similar? Commercial versions of software probably has an edge in support/performance/libraries...Or (as with Simulink ) provides a very specific piece of functionality or integration. But…

The value of Mathematica is pretty straightforward. The language it provides is nothing special, but the scientific and mathematic routines, along with the symbolic support, put it in a class by itself- no open source package I've seen does root finding and other similar processes as effectively. The symbolic stuff is pretty cool too. Years ago I wrote "pyml" which made all the Mathematica features available in Pytho…

And yet Mathematica is not nearly as effective as math when done by pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician.

The value of maths is 1) it's "open-source", 2) it's free to use, 3) if you want to switch from one module to another (say, number theory to category theory) you are able to do so using the same tools (pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician), and so long as the two "modules" are inter-operable it flows so beautifully. If they are not, then you get to try to figure out ways to make them so.

That, imho, is why I think all these open source packages keep popping up. Math itself is the ultimate "open source". And in doing math one is not limited to command line interface, left-to-right, line-by-line tools. Compare the experience of writing out a derivative in LaTeX vs on paper. LaTeX is an exercise in causing pain and frustration to oneself. On paper, it feels as though you're writing music.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#29

Post by vernie »

CullingTheHerd wrote: post #28
dekhn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value of Mathematica is pretty straightforward. The language it provides is nothing special, but the scientific and mathematic routines, along with the symbolic support, put it in a class by itself- no open source package I've seen does root finding and other similar processes as effectively. The symbolic stuff is pretty cool too. Years ago I wrote "pyml" which made all the Mathematica features available in Pytho…

And yet Mathematica is not nearly as effective as math when done by pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician. The value of maths is 1) it's "open-source", 2) it's free to use, 3) if you want to switch from one module to another (say, number theory to category theory) you are able to do so using the same tools (pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician), and so long as the two "modules" are inter-operable it flows…

Or I can use Mathematica to get my derivative, plug it into my numerical optimization routine and not have to think about it again. That's a much better feeling to me.

Re: Mathics: A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica

#30

Post by [deleted] »

CullingTheHerd wrote: post #28
dekhn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value of Mathematica is pretty straightforward. The language it provides is nothing special, but the scientific and mathematic routines, along with the symbolic support, put it in a class by itself- no open source package I've seen does root finding and other similar processes as effectively. The symbolic stuff is pretty cool too. Years ago I wrote "pyml" which made all the Mathematica features available in Pytho…

And yet Mathematica is not nearly as effective as math when done by pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician. The value of maths is 1) it's "open-source", 2) it's free to use, 3) if you want to switch from one module to another (say, number theory to category theory) you are able to do so using the same tools (pencil, paper, and a trained mathematician), and so long as the two "modules" are inter-operable it flows…

[deleted]
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