RE: Mathematica for Macintosh questions.
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg45652] RE: Mathematica for Macintosh questions.
- From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 19:58:24 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Rachel, I think the critical question is: Are you planning to pursue a career that rquires a facility in doing mathematics? (Or, perhaps, are you just interested enough in mathematics to spend some time at it?) If your answer is yes, then I strongly recommend Mathematica. Otherwise, the time overhead in learning Mathematica might not be worth it. Mathematica can be used at almost any level. Sometimes it automatically does things where the beginner would like to see the steps. But there are usually ways around that. For example Solve will solve many equations, but it just gives you the answer and doesn't show the steps. But on my web site I have a high school notebook, StepByStepEquations, that shows how to solve equations one step at a time. If you are going to use mathematics in your future studies, then learning Mathematica now will be a great help. Learning it on simple problems is the best way! There is nothing worse than getting to a more advanced course where the instructor says: "Now we are going to attack the following problem with Mathematica." It is very hard to learn difficult math AND Mathematica at the same time. And you can get lots of help with Mathematica on MathGroup! You should contact Wolfram Research for the licensing information. Student Mathematica isn't too expensive and you might want the latest version. David Park djmp at earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/ -----Original Message----- From: Rachel [mailto:tic at toc.com] To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net Subject: [mg45652] [mg4560] Mathematica for Macintosh questions. Hello, I recently purchased a used Macintosh G4 which came with Mathematica. I am a college student, and one of the classes I'm taking this symester is Prepatory Mathematics. Next symester I'll be taking College Algebra. What I'm wondering is: is Mathematica a suitable program for these rather low-level courses, or is it much too advanced? I *really* want to absorb Algebra, but I'm simply not sure if this is the right tool for the stage I'm at. My professor recommended the website http://www.interactmath.com/, but unfortunately it appears to be Windows-only. Also, how does the licensing work? Will I have to contact the person I purchased the computer from, or will I have to re-register? I know there is a student discount available, but I don't know if I'd have to buy that or not. Sorry for the neophyte questions, hopefully someone can help. Thanks!