Re: Using Mathematica results in publications
- To: mathgroup@smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg11728] Re: Using Mathematica results in publications
- From: "Albert Maydeu-Olivares" <amaydeu@nil.fut.es>
- Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 03:08:56 -0500
- Organization: University of Barcelona
- References: <6f1qkq$fie@smc.vnet.net>
Linc Davis wrote > Given that the internals of Mathematica are not public, are there any > practical or philosophical problems involved in using the results of > its computations in published research? Obviously this has to be done > with proper attribution, but aren't you just taking Wolfram's word for > it that the results are accurate? Just wondering. Thanks for replies. > As a matter of fact, I'm in the middle of such tribulations. I've successfully solved using Mathematica some otherwise intractable problems (unless I was willing to program a mini Mathematica). However, I'm very reluctant to say in my publications 'I used Mathematica' because that's just a sort of elegant way to hand waving.... See... Tachan, that's the result! I believe that the beauty of Mathematica is its unique handling of mathematical operations by its representation as a concatenation of formal rules. I understand keeping enough details of the procedure public so as to preserve the ownership of the idea. But, not giving details of their implementation of standard procedures is ridiculous. That's just an invitation not to use Mathematica in any research that is peer reviewed! In other words, I understand if Wolfram wants to keep private how it all links together, but could you tell me how the Erf function works, are you using quadrature weights, how many, on what inverval.... otherwise I won't be able to use it in a peer reviewed paper! Albert