Using software (like Maxima?) as a math tutor

On 06/17/2012 01:52 PM, Barton Willis wrote:
>> strangely what i hear from people in engeneering fields is that they are big users of Matlab (or free
>> clones, Octave, Scilab), and have little use of Mathematica or Maple.
>> Michel Talon
> A search of Monster.com using the keyword "mathematica" gives 29 jobs; for "matlab" 799 jobs.
>
> --Barton
>
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> Maxima at math.utexas.edu
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I would remind everyone that engineers are not mathematicians but 
practitioners who use science and mathematics to solve problems in the 
physical world.  I was a controls system engineer for about 40 years and 
started using Matlab and later Octave in the early '90s as a faster way 
to develop and test ideas than programming Fortran and using LINPACK and 
EISPACK libraries.  It was cumbersome to use an application like Maxima 
that made me flip a switch to get numbers but useful when I needed help 
with the arithmetic.  Since retiring a few years ago, I enjoy trying to 
backfill a more complete understanding of all of the mathematics that I 
used to use to get those numbers.

I am currently engaged with Dr. Schlomo Sternberg's _Dynamical Systems_ 
--- and might be for some time.  Maxima is a great help in helping me 
explore and understand ideas that are beyond my education but I use 
Octave to work through examples and to test understanding.  Both are 
vital and perform different rolls in the process.  I enjoy reading the 
posts on this mailing list because they present ideas that are foreign 
and require more work to assimilate so please don't turn it into a forum 
of who has the best "app".  That is the least important function that it 
serves.

Lee Pellum, PE
Pine Meadow, CT