Re: Re: Any Mathematica 6 book yet?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg81543] Re: [mg81497] Re: Any Mathematica 6 book yet?
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:45:39 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
- References: <200709261035.GAA06256@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
I'm not sure a book or two will suffice to overcome this difficulty. The surest way to get engineers and scientists to use a "new" tool such as Mathematica is to train the next generation to use it and wait for the old generation to die off. But then the problem becomes how to get just enough far-sighted individuals (such as ourselves, naturally) to teach the new tool, often against the opposition of the faculty in client departments or of our own colleagues. I suspect the important factor will not be any books about Mathematica itself, but rather subject-specific textbooks that happen to use Mathematica in an essential and integrated manner and whose content is so compelling as to make them irresistible to adoption. Familiarity with an old tool is something really hard to dislodge as the supreme motivating factor. I sometimes find it utterly amazing how deeply some mathematicians, scientists, or engineers believe that Mathematica is deficient in being handle this or that kind of problem (typically said about numerics, but sometime about graphics, too). Folks can make up all sorts of rationalizations to excuse their not taking the time to learn something new. And if you try to show them that a particular rationalization, or misconception, is wrong, they just repeat or invent another. AES wrote: > AES wrote: > >> In article <fd7s0t$ceh$1 at smc.vnet.net>, >> Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu> wrote: >> >>> Or as least work with some inside authors. >>> >>> I believe that part of the early success of Mathematica was >>> Wolfram's carefully seeding the marketplace with encouragement, if >>> not actual support, of a number of books about it. > > > Absolutely agreed. > > And failing to do so this time around will cost them -- especially when > combined with the comparatively high price and the perceived complexity > of Mathematica. > > I interact with a *lot* of engineering and science students and > professional researchers, and attempt to promote Mathematica as much as > I can, out of my own self interest in being able to work in it and > communicate with others about it as much as anything else. > > The response, from a very substantial majority I would say, is that they > are already familiar with other competitive products that they have > encountered in their various classes, and see no reason to change. > -- Murray Eisenberg murray at math.umass.edu Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305
- References:
- Re: Any Mathematica 6 book yet?
- From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
- Re: Any Mathematica 6 book yet?