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Open Source Math

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wouldn't-it-be-nice dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The American Mathematical society has an opinion piece about open source software vs propietary software used in mathematics. From the article : "Increasingly, proprietary software and the algorithms used are an essential part of mathematical proofs. To quote J. Neubüser, 'with this situation two of the most basic rules of conduct in mathematics are violated: In mathematics information is passed on free of charge and everything is laid open for checking.'""

2 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Python is part of the answer by nwbvt · · Score: 5, Informative

    I used Python fairly extensively in my number theory course back in college, it did the job fairly well. Its support for large integers was especially important for that class. And the fact that it was very familiar to me (I was a double major in CS and math), it was very easy for me to crank out an algorithm in it. However, most of the book's examples were in Mathematica, which I ended up getting as well. It was a neat tool, but now that my student license has expired and I don't feel like spending a few grand on another license, everything I wrote in that is useless. However I can still pull out my old Python programs and see what it was I was doing.

    --
    Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
  2. Re:Python is part of the answer by El_Isma · · Score: 5, Informative

    Let me recommmend you Maxima http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
    It's a GPL Computer Algebra System and it's in active development. I use it all the time.