Mathematica vs. Matlab?

Posted by Cliff on Sunday January 5, 2003 @09:04AM from the advantages-and-disadvantages-of-specific-math-packages dept.

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?

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Why would you need either? by MarkusQ · 2003-01-05 15:50 · Score: 2, Troll

Realistically, why would you need either? You can't be getting your data out to more than a few digits; even a single/short float would be overkill. So, for that matter, is machine learning...
I guess I'll rephrase this as a question: just what are you hoping that the math package will do for you? I'm not asking for buzzwords, just a plain-talk statement of the problem you are trying to solve.
-- MarkusQ