A dangerous question - Axiom vs Maxima?



On 02/26/2013 11:01 AM, Mike Valenzuela wrote:


> What I want is a reasonable comparison of the two systems in terms of
> capabilities, efficiency, ease of use, etc. I do not want to start a
> flame war nor I am not looking for "X simply is better." I need facts to
> determine if Axiom is worth the learning curve.

One anecdotal data point, when I tried to learn Axiom probably about 7 
years back or so, I found its type system terribly cumbersome for 
getting done the kinds of things that I wanted to do. I think of Axiom 
as most likely better for pure math and less suited to applied math (say 
deriving equations for physical systems for example). In the world of 
Applied Math, where approximations are the rule, finding out that Axiom 
was not happy to perform such and such approximate behavior on things of 
type this and that was a non-starter for me.

On the other hand, if I were trying to prove theorems about the 
existence or uniqueness of such and such I might like it when Axiom told 
me that it couldn't do foobar because it was not a legitimate 
interpretation (in the sense of types).