On Tue, 4 Nov 2003, Paul Myers wrote:
> Does the "screen" layout of the input and output, as shown in other
> threads actually look that way on a Maxima screen or does it appear more
> like that on a Maple screen? That is, is it just the migration of the
> example to an ASCII emailer that makes equations difficult to read?
Have a look at the screen shots on maxima.sf.net .
All in all maxima looks and works very much like maple.
>
> As a university student, at the University of Canberra, doing a Bachelor
> of Education in Maths/Science, we are using Maple 8 Student Edition for
> our Maths 1 & 2 computer "labs" and for basic "stuff" I find this a good
> program and last semester bought myself a copy.
So you should keep to maple, since you have been tought how to use it and
your collegues use it, too.
I introduced maxima to my students (yesterday), because it is free and our
school can't afford to buy 30 network licenses of Maple for our computers.
Although I guess Maxima can do mathmatics as well as Maple, it is not as
well documented and it lacks Maple's features for presentation of your
work. For an experienced user there exist enough workarounds, but for a
student these are useless complications.
You will have enough to do attending your courses.
Regards,
Uli.
>
> I hope the above is taken in the positive way intended and would be
> interested in any comments.
>
> Thank you for your assistance in these matters.
>
> Regards,
>
> Paul Myers