Mathematica vs. Matlab?

Ninnux asks: "I wanted to find out from the community which was the better mathametics modeling package: Mathematica or Matlab. The cancer center I research and program for is considering purchasing a license set. I'll be working with Bayesian machine learning and other bioinformatic approaches for hormone pathway modeling. I know Matlab has various toolboxes that would be rather useful, but I'd like to hear what people think." While I'm sure direct comparisons will be made, I think focusing on the specific niche will help Ninnux the most; so, how well does each piece of software handle Bayesian functions and other bioinformatic computations?

Comments

Try the Free alternative

[Col. Klink (retired)]

GNU/Octave is a free (libre) Matlab clone. There's also Scilab, which has a Matlab-like syntax. Finally, Maxima is now GPLed so you can explore that as well.

Scilab is mostly free, but still not free-enough to be included on Debian (it is packaged under non-free on a Debian system). See this thread for details.