Talk:Computer algebra system

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Mathematics rating: Start Class Low Priority  Field: General

I thought these were called algrebraic manipulators or is that something different? --(talk)BozMo 13:32, 14 May 2004 (UTC)

IMHO it's important to show which software packages are free software - what's the point of having wikipedia under the GFDL if we are not going to be supportive of the same sort of freedom in software? Boud 12:18, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I don't quite agree with your reasoning, but I do think that we should include a very short description of the software packages in the list - including its freeness. I tried to mark some more packages as free, but I have some problems with the templates: sometimes, {Free software} renders as Template:Free software (see the article). Any suggestions? -- Jitse Niesen 12:16, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Looks like templates only get properly referenced five times (as of today's date anyway) Boud 15:07, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

  1. Template:Free software,
  2. Template:Free software,
  3. Template:Free software,
  4. Template:Free software,
  5. Template:Free software,
  6. Template:Free software,
  7. Template:Free software,
  8. Template:Free software,
  9. Template:Free software,
  10. Template:Free software,
  11. Template:Free software,
  12. Template:Free software,

So we need to discuss this with someone involved in coding...


There's a discussion here: http://bugzilla.wikipedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95 Boud 15:17, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

seems resolvedAmcfreely 02:26, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't Magma be listed under algebra, group theory along with GAP? I don't think you can do much else with it...

From five minutes' reading of the wikipedia pages on GAP and Magma, it looks like you're right, but it sounds like you know more about these than i do. IMHO you should make the correction. Boud 13:58, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Done. What's the rule on removing completed discussions? --64.5.123.248 19:51, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Why are the 'numerical' systems Matlab, Octave, MathCad, and SciLab listed here at all? Of these, only Matlab has some symbolic component (it includes a Maple module -- optionally?). The Octave page explicitly says it is not a computer algebra system....--Macrakis 02:36, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've cut the list of numerical and statistical systems. For the record the list was: MATLAB, GNU Octave, Scilab, Mathcad, S (programming language), R (programming language). Of these, the symbolic capabilities of Matlab are provided by Maple; R has very rudimentary capabilities (I think it can compute derivatives and nothing else), and I don't think the others have any symbolic capabilities at all. So these are out of place in a discussion of algebraic systems. For what it's worth, Wile E. Heresiarch 05:49, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Automatic differentiation link

I think the automatic differentiation link that was just added is out of place here. Automatic differentiation is a technique for numerically maintaining one or more differentials through a calculation. Symbolic methods can be useful in deriving automatic differentiation programs, and for all I know there may be CASs that support automatic differentiation, but it is not specific to CASs. I'd compare this to calculating with numeric intervals -- again, a function which CASs may support (just as they support floating-point arithmetic), but not specific to CASs. Unless someone has a convincing counterargument, I will remove the link in a day or two. --Macrakis 21:40, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Critisim of most CAS systems

As a student of math at college the individual purchases a student version of the software for say $100 but it commonly has an expiration date. Then after graduation it is not really possible for most individuals to continue using the product at the full price of the software since it usually is in the thousands of dollars. This type of policy impedes life long development of many individuals to mature into scientific programmers. It is as harmful to society as high tuition at colleges and overly expensive textbooks. It is oppressive to human attainment of true potential.

71.114.161.229 00:06, 1 July 2007 (UTC)