Re: Re: Mathematica notebooks the best method
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg87048] Re: [mg87025] Re: [mg86975] Mathematica notebooks the best method
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:16:15 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
- References: <fsd6lf$9fn$1@smc.vnet.net> <fsg6t7$jdd$1@smc.vnet.net> <200803280813.DAA04560@smc.vnet.net> <200803290924.EAA16501@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
djvu vs. pdf: no big deal. Tex vs. Mathematica: BIG deal! With djvu and pdf, it's merely a matter of the final format in which the document appears and is disseminated. With (La)TeX and Mathematica, there's a crucial difference in the entire authoring process. Among other things: (1) (La)TeX concentrates upon the logical structure of the document, whereas Mathematica from the start involves the actual appearance of the document. (2) Typing math markup is typically quicker in (La)TeX than in Mathematica, as it avoids Control-key sequences (unless one is using an editor where such sequences are used as shortcuts) or at least uses shorter keystroke-only sequences. (3) Mathematica allows live calculations in the document itself, whereas TeX does not (except of the most primitive kind). Exception: a specialized TeX+CAS system. (4) Mathematica creates graphics of all sorts directly in the document, whereas with the exception of a limited number of native or package add-on graphics types, graphics must be imported into a TeX document from an external source (such as Mathematica)! There are two other another differences: (5) One can have an entire TeX document preparation system -- editor, TeX engine plus packages, viewer, and converter (dvi to ps or pdf, e.g.) -- for free. Needless to say, Mathematica is not free. (6) The source code for TeX and many or most of the supporting utilities is open source; this is certainly not the case for Mathematica. Andrzej Kozlowski wrote: > > ...I would like to point out that "publishing standards" are not > set in stone. For several years I have witnessed PDF visibly loosing > ground to djvu in the mathematical preprint area. I like with many > other things I learned about it first form students, who quickly > understood its technical superiority over PDF (most of all, much > smaller file size). Now I see that a number of on-line mathematics > journals are offering djvu as an alternative to pdf. -- 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:
- Mathematica notebooks the best method for technical communications (Was: Another stylesheet question)
- From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
- Re: Mathematica notebooks the best method for technical communications (Was: Another stylesheet question)
- From: Andrzej Kozlowski <akoz@mimuw.edu.pl>
- Mathematica notebooks the best method for technical communications (Was: Another stylesheet question)