## Math Software

For the discussion of math. Duh.

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thoughtfully
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### Re: Can't find good math software

Zohar wrote:I asked in the help desk but didn't get a reply, I figured I'd ask here.
I'm trying to make a "map" or my friends. I want to see my friends and how I know them (for example, I'll have me in the middle of the map, a friend connected to me with a "friend" line, then his cousin connected to him with a "family member" line. I think the most "distant" person I know that way is a friend's cousin's friend's friend's friend's ex-girlfriend). I'd like to include family members in it etc.

So, anyone have any idea what I should use for it? I suppose a graph theory software would work, but I don't know any and didn't have much luck finding something suitable online. Do you know of a freeware program that can work? I don't have any programming knowledge at all, if that means anything.

The standard open source graph rendering software is Graphviz. I dunno how easy it is to use, and maybe Dia is enough for you.

antonfire wrote:I'm looking for software that'd allow me to make mathematical diagrams quickly, without too much effort. I don't like to have to aim exactly at a circle after I've drawn it to get a radius, and I like to be able to adjust things after I'm done.

I used Pro/ENGINEER for an engineering class last semester, and its sketching function was pretty excellent. If my mouse was near a curve, it would assume that I wanted a point on the curve. If a line was nearly vertical, it would assume that I wanted it vertical. If two lines were about the same length, it would assume that they were supposed to be the same length. (Of course, all of these constraints could be disabled.) I could adjust dimensions and things after drawing them, by dragging things around or by entering numerical values, and the constraints that we had before (vertical lines, point on a curve) would stay satisfied. Basically, I really liked the design of it.

Of course, it was part of a 3D engineering modelling thing that I don't need and can't possibly afford for my own computer.

Now I'm looking for a (free?) program that would do some of the same nice stuff that Pro/ENGINEER Sketcher does, and I haven't been able to find anything yet.

I created a diagram using Kig and then cleaning up the svg output with Inkscape. The greek theta is an imported svg file from Wikimedia Commons.

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Rokue
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### Re: Can't find good math software

If you're using Windows XP you could try Power Calculator

Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

What do people use to make math papers? I.e. what program lets you type pretty math equations?

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

Jorpho
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:What do people use to make math papers? I.e. what program lets you type pretty math equations?

I usually make do with the good ol' Microsoft Equation Editor (aka MathType), but you'll find no shortage of LaTeX devotees. (Bit of a learning curve to that one.)

NathanielJ
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### Re: Math Software

I've never heard of a professional math paper being written in anything but LaTeX (at least in the last 5 years or so).
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Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

Sorry to highjack the topic a bit, but is anyone able to recommend any free LaTeX editors that one could use to write math papers with? I'd like to learn, but have no idea where to begin.

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

thoughtfully
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:Sorry to highjack the topic a bit, but is anyone able to recommend any free LaTeX editors that one could use to write math papers with? I'd like to learn, but have no idea where to begin.

Seems on topic to me.

LyX is probably what you want.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Torn Apart By Dingos
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### Re: Math Software

You first need a distribution (which includes the compiler, fonts, packages, DVI viewer etc), for example MikTeX.

LED (Latex EDitor) is a pretty good editor. TeXnicCenter is nice too. I've never used LyX, maybe this is a good time to try it.

The standard tutorial is "the not so short introduction to latex2", also affectionately known as "lshort". Google for the latter to find it.

Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

Well I just installed LyX, and though it took a while for me to actually get it working, I think it's exactly what I've been looking for.

Thanks!

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

thoughtfully
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### Re: Math Software

LeD and TeXnicCenter both look pretty nifty. But they are windoze only

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
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Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

After messing around with LyX a bit more, I've come to the conclusion I don't like it. It's buggy and doesn't seem to support a lot of commands. I've installed LEd and it seems much better. It's a far steeper learning curve because it's just LaTeX code (i.e. no GUI that hides the code like LyX), but it actually works and displays exactly what I want when I enter the code correctly.

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

zaqwithaq
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### Re: Math Software

If you have a r4/ m3 for your ds, there is a simple graphing calculator emulator http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=2262
Spoiler:

Chrismclegless
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:After messing around with LyX a bit more, I've come to the conclusion I don't like it. It's buggy and doesn't seem to support a lot of commands. I've installed LEd and it seems much better. It's a far steeper learning curve because it's just LaTeX code (i.e. no GUI that hides the code like LyX), but it actually works and displays exactly what I want when I enter the code correctly.

I'm having trouble getting LEd to work. I've downloaded MiKTeX and LEd, and installed them, but when I try to use the test run they suggest, it doesn't work, it just gives me a text file filled with garbage stuff I don't understand. Did you have to do anything extra to get it to work? I'm on Vista, if that makes a difference.
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Torn Apart By Dingos
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### Re: Math Software

The only special thing you have to do is copy a special dll (which is linked to from LEd's site) to make the built-in DVI viewer work (you don't have to do this yet, if the test you're talking about is this one http://www.latexeditor.org/how_to_start.html ). The text file you're talking about, is it a .dvi-file? Did you open it with YAP (the DVI viewer that you get with MiKTeX)?

Chrismclegless
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### Re: Math Software

No, I don't think it produced a .dvi file. At least, if it did, I couldn't find it. Here's what I did:
* Installed MiKTeK and LEd
* Created a .txt file with the code from http://www.latexeditor.org/how_to_start.html, and saved it.
* Opened command prompt.
* Went to the directory with the text file in.
* typed

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latex test.tex

At this point the computer asked me which language I was using, so I said 'english' (This was on the list of options it gave)
Then the computer opened a .txt file with some code in it, which I didn't recognise. I couldn't see a .dvi file anywhere.
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Torn Apart By Dingos
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### Re: Math Software

You should make a .tex file, not a .txt file, but I guess that's what you did since you didn't get an error when you ran "latex test.tex"? latex shouldn't ask you your language and it certainly shouldn't open any .txt file. Could you copy and paste your input and output in the console? It should look something like this.

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E:\>more test.tex\documentclass{article} \begin{document} My first \TeX~document.\end{document}E:\>latex test.texThis is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592-1.40.4 (MiKTeX 2.7)entering extended mode(test.texLaTeX2e <2005/12/01>Babel <v3.8h> and hyphenation patterns for english, dumylang, nohyphenation, german, ngerman, french, loaded.("D:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\tex\latex\base\article.cls"Document Class: article 2005/09/16 v1.4f Standard LaTeX document class("D:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\tex\latex\base\size10.clo"))No file test.aux.[1] (test.aux) )Output written on test.dvi (1 page, 256 bytes).Transcript written on test.log.E:\>yap test.dvi

The last command should open the dvi viewer.

Chrismclegless
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### Re: Math Software

Hmm. I seem to have found the problem. Although I tell Notepad to create a .tex file, it insists on creating a .txt file.

*Slaps himself for making a stupid mistake*

OK, I've downloaded a random .tex file, renamed it to test ran it. It works! I was completely misunderstanding what it was doing, it wasn't asking me for a language at all. It was just saying that it had loaded the hyphenation patterns for different languages and then crashing out.

*Time passes*

Yes! I've successfully created a second, different LaTeX document. Thank you for the help, and sorry for taking your time by making a silly mistake and not realising it. Now all I've got to do is actually learn how to write the stuff.
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rrwoods
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### Re: Math Software

Chrismclegless wrote:Hmm. I seem to have found the problem. Although I tell Notepad to create a .tex file, it insists on creating a .txt file.

Just because I didn't see this answered and I half-got-the-impression you still need it answered: Put quotes around the filename and extension in the save dialog.
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Chrismclegless
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### Re: Math Software

rrwoods wrote:
Chrismclegless wrote:Hmm. I seem to have found the problem. Although I tell Notepad to create a .tex file, it insists on creating a .txt file.

Just because I didn't see this answered and I half-got-the-impression you still need it answered: Put quotes around the filename and extension in the save dialog.

Ooh, thankyou. I'm using LEd to write them so that isn't a problem anymore, but it's useful knowing how to do it. I've run into the problem before.
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craig
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### Re: Math Software

MAPLE ownz all

qbg
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### Re: Can't find good math software

miles01110 wrote:Is Maxima still around?

Yes it is. It's an "alternative" to Mathematica, and it's free and open source.

Maxima has the advantage of being implemented in Common Lisp, so you can use to_lisp() to get to the REPL if that would be easier for someone. (though using Maxima's symbolic functions might be tricky from lisp, and you need to know how to mangle your function names if you want to use them from Maxima.)

bapt
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### Re: Math Software

i have to mention R: for those unimpressed by Matlab when it comes to functions and scope (not to mention price), R is a very powerful programming language with awesome graphic capabilities. oh, and it's open source.

xixheartxyoux
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If you're going for a strictly geometry standpoint, i.e. measureing angles and having parallel lines, Geometers Sketchpad is a God-send. I managed to get a copy for about $40. It can do some basic plotting, but I never got the chance to mess around with that part of the program. Its also fairly easy to shade objects. The program is rather fussy about where the cursor is but if you've got a decent mouse its not too much trouble. “The highest form of pure thought is in mathematics”--Plato Alpha Omicron Posts: 2765 Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 1:07 pm UTC ### Re: Math Software xixheartxyoux wrote:If you're going for a strictly geometry standpoint, i.e. measureing angles and having parallel lines, Geometers Sketchpad is a God-send. I managed to get a copy for about$40. It can do some basic plotting, but I never got the chance to mess around with that part of the program. Its also fairly easy to shade objects. The program is rather fussy about where the cursor is but if you've got a decent mouse its not too much trouble.

Maybe that's just for students, though.
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Jorpho
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### Re: Math Software

I've been reading a lot about SciPy/Pylab + NumPy + Matplotlib lately. Seems pretty darn spiffy. (Too bad python shells hate me.)

xixheartxyoux
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### Re: Math Software

Maybe that's just for students, though.

I am a student and I didn't know that! My school has a license for it, but I bought a copy to keep for my home computer so I wouldn't have to be running up to campus all the time. Darn!

“The highest form of pure thought is in mathematics”--Plato

Alpha Omicron
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### Re: Math Software

xixheartxyoux wrote:I am a student and I didn't know that! My school has a license for it, but I bought a copy to keep for my home computer so I wouldn't have to be running up to campus all the time. Darn!

Yeah. I think the license allows for students to install it on their own computers.
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Velifer
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### Re: Math Software

For mathematicians who are pathological liars:

SAS: Huge dinosaur stats and data manipulation package, tries to be everything, only partially succeeds. Steep learning curve, Steep price. Lots of expensive add-ins.

R: Like SAS, but free. Lots of free but questionably coded add-ins. Caveat emptor.

SPSS, MiniTAB: Clicky stats. Get the job done, if you don't need much.

OpenEpi is cool if you need to do some basic stats from a strange computer.

My overwhelming favorite:
Stata: A bit of a learning curve (can replace 30 lines of SAS code with a single line). Excellent handling of complex survey weights. Small, fast, and powerful, leaves data manipulation to database programs that are good at that sort of thing. Has a peer-reviewed database of new procedures and papers, the online help/journal is amazing. Pisses SAS users off.
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oohal
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:What do people use to make math papers? I.e. what program lets you type pretty math equations?

I've used FXequation for most of my assignments this year. Getting the formatting right can be fiddly, but beats using mathtype/equation editor.

Andreas Goebel
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### Re: Math Software

Hi,

math software I use:

Algebra: Maxima with wxMaxima. If sometimes there is a thing that maxima cannot do, I use MuPad (my school has a license for this).

Geometry:
a) 2D: I use Euklid (http://www.dynageo.de). My school has a license for it. But I also like GeoGebra , ZuL (see here: http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/hom ... va/zirkel/) and Cinderella (see here: http://www.cinderella.de/tiki-index.php).
b) 3D: I use (of course) my own Software Archimedes Geo3D (http://www.spatialgeometry.com). It is, in short a "Sketchpad 3D", you can do all that you expect from an interactive geometry software.

Graphing:

I use Gnuplot and sometimes GeoGebra. For 3D graphs I use Archimedes Geo3D, too.

Regards,

Andreas

Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

Does anyone know of a free program capable of graphing implicit functions in R3? Preferably for Linux.

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

Jorpho
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### Re: Math Software

Something else I've been meaning to look into is OpenDX. It looks pretty funky.

Alpha Omicron
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:Does anyone know of a free program capable of graphing implicit functions in R3? Preferably for Linux.

I suspect someone does, yes.
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Qoppa
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### Re: Math Software

Alpha Omicron wrote:
Qoppa wrote:Does anyone know of a free program capable of graphing implicit functions in R3? Preferably for Linux.

I suspect someone does, yes.

I've only tried gnuplot, and from what I can tell, it will only plot functions given in the form z=f(x,y). I want to plot surfaces given in the form F(x,y,z)=0.

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_=0,w=-1,(*t)(int,int);a()??<char*p="[gd\~/d~/\\b\x7F\177l*~/~djal{x}h!\005h";(++w<033)?(putchar((*t)(w??(p:>,w?_:0XD)),a()):0;%>O(x,l)??<_='['/7;{return!(x%(_-11))?x??'l:x^(1+ ++l);}??>main(){t=&O;w=a();}

Andreas Goebel
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### Re: Math Software

Qoppa wrote:
Alpha Omicron wrote:
Qoppa wrote:Does anyone know of a free program capable of graphing implicit functions in R3? Preferably for Linux.

I suspect someone does, yes.

I've only tried gnuplot, and from what I can tell, it will only plot functions given in the form z=f(x,y). I want to plot surfaces given in the form F(x,y,z)=0.

You can do that with MuPaD (non-free), and in case of polynomials with surf (http://surf.sourceforge.net/). You can do that with Maple, and probably most other CAS. You can´t do it with Maxima.

Regards,

Andreas

Ended
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### Re: Math Software

You can also do it in MATLAB (non-free). Sadly Octave (the free clone) can't handle such things.
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Jorpho
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### Re: Math Software

Ended wrote:You can also do it in MATLAB (non-free). Sadly Octave (the free clone) can't handle such things.
Gee, I didn't know Octave's limitations were so sharply defined. How about Pylab?

Ended
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### Re: Math Software

Jorpho wrote:
Ended wrote:You can also do it in MATLAB (non-free). Sadly Octave (the free clone) can't handle such things.
Gee, I didn't know Octave's limitations were so sharply defined. How about Pylab?
Yeah, it's because Octave uses gnuplot as its graphics backend. I've never used Pylab though, so I'm not sure about that.
Generally I try to make myself do things I instinctively avoid, in case they are awesome.
-dubsola

dennisw
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### Re: Math Software

Here are a few I've found useful/fun/interesting:

Equation Editor
• MathCast - MathML/XHTML - outputs PNG, others, Windows only
Try the Printifier for xkcd. You can now scale the comic between 50 and 150%.

I find these very useful: Common Errors in English Usage (web site) and Eats, Shoots & Leaves (book). You may, too.

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dennisw
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### Re: Can't find good math software

Zohar wrote:I asked in the help desk but didn't get a reply, I figured I'd ask here.

I'm trying to make a "map" or my friends. I want to see my friends and how I know them (for example, I'll have me in the middle of the map, a friend connected to me with a "friend" line, then his cousin connected to him with a "family member" line. I think the most "distant" person I know that way is a friend's cousin's friend's friend's friend's ex-girlfriend). I'd like to include family members in it etc.

So, anyone have any idea what I should use for it? I suppose a graph theory software would work, but I don't know any and didn't have much luck finding something suitable online. Do you know of a freeware program that can work? I don't have any programming knowledge at all, if that means anything.

Take a look at this article on sociograms. It has some links to software near the bottom.
Try the Printifier for xkcd. You can now scale the comic between 50 and 150%.

I find these very useful: Common Errors in English Usage (web site) and Eats, Shoots & Leaves (book). You may, too.

e pluribus unum