RE: [SI-LIST] : Mathmatical Software

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From: Robison Michael R CNIN ([email protected])
Date: Wed Apr 04 2001 - 11:59:52 PDT


the octave looked interesting... i'm always looking for a freebie i can
load on my home computer. but when i checked into it, it looked like
the windows install was a nightmare. too bad.

miker

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Anderson [SMTP:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 1:18 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] : Mathmatical Software
>
> My personal favorite is Matlab. If you can imagine doing something
> mathematical, Matlab can probably do it. Currently we use it for
> post-processing lots of measured lab data to create graphical
> representations. One down-side is that mathworks requires you
> to purchase extra add-on 'toolboxes' for various disciplines.
> (like signal processing, symbolic math, dsp etc., etc. )
> They have multitudes of add-on toolboxes available. One comment,
> the symbolic math toolkit incorporates a large subset of Maple.
> There is an open-source program called Octave ( http://www.octave.org)
> which has very matlab-like syntax. It doesn't have all the bells and
> whistles, chrome and glitz that Matlab does, however if your task
> is within it's capabilities it is a great program (and it is free).
> In some respects it is even better than Matlab for some applications.
> It runs on Unix, Linux, and Windoze and is available either as binaries
> or source code. I've used Octave to provide number crunching ability
> to some on-line web-based SI tools I've developed for in-house use.
>
> Mathcad is probably the most intuitive to use and excels in it's ability
> to work with equations in a natural fashion. I've always felt the graphics
> left a little to be desired, but they are adequate. Only available on
> Windoze platforms (and maybe Macs) as far as I know. Price is moderate
> (a few hundred compared to Matlab which clocks in in the thousands).
>
> Mathematica is a real power house, but even though I've got it on my
> machine I don't think I've used it in years so I'll defer to others
> for comments. I think I found it kind of non-intuitive in its use,
> but that just may be me. This one is pricey too.
>
> -Ray
>
>
> >Rich Peyton wrote:
> >>
> >> Hello All,
> >>
> >> Does anyone have any recommendations on " Mathematical Software " for
> >> Electrical Engineering and SI.
> >> MathCAD, Mathematica etc... Which one would be best for calculations,
> >> reports, graphs? I was leaning towards MathCAD because of it's wide
> >> acceptance? Any recommendations?
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> Rich
> >
> >
> >Hmmmm, great topic!
> >
> >I've always liked Mathematica; it's the grandaddy of all of these
> >packages, and I think it probably is ahead of the other in terms of
> >power.
> >
> >Lately, though, I've been learning Maple, and it's probably pretty
> >close to Mathematica in terms of the way it works and in terms of
> >power. I don't know enough about the programming language aspects
> >of Maple to make a direct comparison; what I like about Mathematica
> >is the non-procedural methods it provides for defining functions; it's
> >not clear to me (so far) that Maple does this (does anyone else know
> >for sure?).
> >
> >Mathcad is also a reasonable choice. Some of our analog designers use
> >and like it, and at least one of them uses it for *ALL* his design
> >work rather than using a circuit simulator! So it presumably has
> >the power to do about all you would want to do in terms of design.
> >I believe the math engine in Mathcad is Maple (it was a few years
> >ago when I had a copy on my now-defunct Mac)
> >
> >Given a choice, I'd choose Mathematica. But I think any of them would
> >be fine for design work, and I think they are all in about the same
> >ballpark pricewise. They all run on nearly any platform.
> >
> >By the way, we also have Matlab, which is not much of a symbolic math
> >engine, but is excellent for handling large arrays of data. I've used
> >it to simulate bandwidth limiting of simulated waveforms in PCB traces,
> >and it works very nicely for this sort of thing. Anyone doing DSP
> >would have to have Matlab in addition to any other math package, in my
> >opinion.
> >--
> >Kim Helliwell
> >Senior CAE Engineer
> >Acuson Corporation
> >Phone: 650 694 5030 FAX: 650 943 7260
>
>
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