What should Mma be?
- To: MATHGROUP at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: What should Mma be?
- From: heinz at solrt.ups.circe.fr (Schulz)
- Date: Wed, 02 Dec 92 16:55:57 +0100
Concerning this issue, I certainly feel that the mathematical capabilities deserve further improvements. On the other hand there seems to be a certain inconsistency on the part of Wolfram Research: On the one hand, to name one example, they develop fancy surface colouring schemes for graphical representations which many people probably can not usefully communicate to others for lack of colour printers, scientific journals accepting coloured pictures, etc. On the other hand, relatively minor improvments (or so it seems) like the possibility of reasonably looking graphics labels (including e.g. subscripting and greek symbols) haven't occured yet. All the schemes proposed here, going through graphics converting programs, and re-editing the postscript, are terribly cumbersome, I find. To summarize my opinion: emphasis on improvements of the mathematics involved seems to be a good idea, but why not add a few little extras in the graphics, so that the H.J. Schulz Laboratoire de Physique des Solides Orsay, France