quark Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Is there a preference for one over another for math majors and STEM majors in general? It seems like MATLAB is cheaper and simpler to learn but will need more add-ons while Mathematica offers more functionality in one package but costs more (even the student edition)? Is that right? Ideally learn both? Helping DS gather opinions so that he can decide which one to spend birthday money on and eventually use the software for research projects. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I found Mathematica incredibly easy to learn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 My son at Georgia Tech uses MATLAB because that's what GT uses. But I have used both and didn't have issues with learning them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 There are also free knock-offs of MATLAB, like Octave. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Octave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiredHSmom Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 My engineer daughter uses MATLAB in college. My mathematician daughter used in on a summer research project and then took a class in it at college (different college than her sister). My son is learning it right now through a third college. I get the feeling that it is the standard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thank you all! :) And now it's really hard to choose lol. :) But I love knowing what your DCs are using and that you liked Mathematica, kiana. OK, will leave it to kiddo decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Helping DS gather opinions so that he can decide which one to spend birthday money on and eventually use the software for research projects For research projects, the supervisor/mentor might have an ongoing project already using Matlab or mathematica. Also he may not need to spend a dime as he could use the school/research institute's site license for the software. ETA: Kids played with Matlab and simulink at the bay area MakerFaire. The reps manning the booth were helpful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 You forgot IDL... better graphics. I used Mathematica in college and Matlab at work. DH swears by IDL. Emily 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 For research projects, the supervisor/mentor might have an ongoing project already using Matlab or mathematica. Also he may not need to spend a dime as he could use the school/research institute's site license for the software. Yup, looks like he could purchase these later. Not because he will use their license but because they will be using something else for his project! I feel like such a dinosaur (hopefully, a cute one). :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhudson Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 My ds uses MATLAB in his Engineering program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Start with Octave. It's free. Before we had a site license at work for Matlab (for more than 2 people at a time) many of us were using Octave. My daughter has used both Matlab and Mathematica and has found Matlab to be a little more user friendly. But that may be just because she was forced to use it more. But I really wouldn't spend money on these programs until you know if you have to. You probably will never need to. Most colleges have site licenses. If he just wants something to play with now, then try Octave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Is there a free student version of Mathematica? I have a recollection that my daughter was supposed to get that onto her computer to do her math homework. She never succeeded in getting one that worked (we have old computers) so just used the school computers to do her homework. But I'm pretty sure they were told to download a version and that it was free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 You forgot IDL... better graphics. I used Mathematica in college and Matlab at work. DH swears by IDL. Emily We're winding down our IDL license at work (way too expensive), so I'm seeing if Matlab has as good a graphics now. Things have been changing rapidly over the past few years and I suspect Matlab may be getting better. It's ability to "read" data off images is a lot better than it used to be, for example. (I don't even know how well IDL does that) And there are just a lot more things written in Matlab code these days. Also, I see that there is a coursera online course in Matlab (I think it's coursera. If not, it's edx) The first few lectures were pretty basic. Not sure how far they're going to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 We used MATLAB. It was okay. I tried Octave and it was similar enough to MATLAB, but finally I just learned R (for stats, not relevant to your needs at this point) and let my MATLAB and nascent Octave skills slide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 The only place I have used Mathmatica was in 1 class in college years ago. Matlab has been what is used by several of my previous employers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Matlab is what my oldest dd uses in her engineering college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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