(11-22-2014 07:26 PM)Han Wrote: (11-22-2014 07:01 PM)Gerald H Wrote: Maple & Mathematica have different syntax & conventions! Not really surprising, as they are different products, so the best you can demand is CONSISTENCY in the system, not between the competing products.
I do not consider inconsistency between various environments in the one system an advantage - it could be viewed as quaint, but that's scarcely a compliment.
I'm not trying to defend the design choice and am simply noting that there are two environments. Once you familiarize yourself with each, it's not hard to work between them. The inconsistencies arise from trying to force one environment that has its own set of rules to behave like the other (which also has its own set of rules). Of course this will happen by the mere fact that they are two separate environments, each with their own set of rules. I think that if the Home environment was inconsistent within itself, then that would be disastrous. Likewise, if the CAS environment had inconsistencies within itself, then it too would be disastrous. However, I haven't heard any complaints about how Home is inconsistent with itself (nor similarly with the CAS).
In a classroom that has various CAS software available, students must come to terms with the fact that if they use multiple CAS to solve a single problem, they have to deal with making these different CAS work together. There are tasks that Maple can do better than Mathematica, and vice versa. It's not too far-fetched to have real-world problems that make use of both. I don't see this as being really any different from having two separate environments.
If the complaint is that there are even two environments to begin with (forcing you to have to remember that they behave differently), then that's a different discussion.
If you really want to see inconsistency, look no further than the HP49G through HP50G that tried to put everything under one roof.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search...2t49yjMC8J
Various solving algorithms would ask to change certain flag settings which may or may not affect results on future calculations. One need only dig through comp.sys.hp48 to see myriad examples. Most of those issues were alleviated with a few of the HP50G's internal commands that handled all the flag settings for the user.
Edit: I am sure you are aware that CAS programs are incredibly slow compared to their non-CAS counterparts when it comes to numerical computations. (This is true for any CAS system). The HP Prime gives you both. You can choose to ignore the CAS and do only numerical computations for a speed gain. Or you can use the CAS if your computations require mostly symbolic manipulation. I hardly think that this is quaint in an age where most technologies are judged by their computing power and speed.
It may be a pleasure to bounce around between Mathematica & Maple in a world where both are freely available, unfortunately on my planet you have to pay cash for them.
I pity the poor creatures having to use both M & M to solve their problems - do you imagine these beings will have the discipline to remember the system they're working in & come up with the right syntax everytime?
Search
Member List
Calendar
Help
