wrong program? was:Re: [Maxima] Strange floating point behaviour

On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 09:49, Richard Fateman wrote:
> Have you considered using one of the numerical programs for
> your work?  Essentially ALL of the items that you mention
> are peripheral to what Maxima does.  It could be that
> you should be using Matlab or one of its free clones
> like Octave. These programs are centrally concerned
> with numerics and (at least for Matlab), plotting, and
> you do not seem to need the essential part of Maxima,
> which is the symbolic facility.

I'm afraid I have to agree here. I do a great deal of purely numerical
calculation in my (paid) work. I use Octave to do it, not Maxima. There
may be a time when it is easier to do purely numerical work in Maxima,
but that time has not yet arrived.

--Jim