Mathematical software of choice? (Archived)

Started by DJ Makto, February 17, 2011, 11:05:14 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Do you use a mathematical computing software?

Matlab
Stata
R
Other
A calculator
None

Clarke

#20
Either this awesome thing, (for exams) or Wolfram. I can't remember how I managed before symbolic calculators.  :P

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Thomas R on July 22, 2011, 01:10:19 PM
Either this awesome thing, (for exams) or Wolfram. I can't remember how I managed before symbolic calculators.  :P

THAT. is cool.

sqrt(12)*sqrt(6)*sqrt(3)/2

7.3484692283495

UGH. What I would have DONE for one of those fx83...

Clarke

#22
Even better is the trig. If you set it up in radians mode, and ask it for sin-1(1), you get 1/2(π) back.  (which is absolutely wonderful when you make a mistake in the beginning of a question and have to deal with stupid fractions the rest of the way through.)

Tirea Aean

SUCH. WINNNNN. where was that when I was taking trig?

ExLibrisMortis


Clarke

Quote from: ExLibrisMortis on July 22, 2011, 05:52:26 PM
Quote from: 'Oma Tirea on February 18, 2011, 11:58:13 PM
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

WIN+++ ;D



Especially their app on my phone, helped me ace many a tests in Calc
You were allowed your phone?  :o We weren't allowed any sort of programmable thing, let alone a smartphone.

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Thomas R on July 22, 2011, 05:56:27 PM
Quote from: ExLibrisMortis on July 22, 2011, 05:52:26 PM
Quote from: 'Oma Tirea on February 18, 2011, 11:58:13 PM
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

WIN+++ ;D



Especially their app on my phone, helped me ace many a tests in Calc
You were allowed your phone?  :o We weren't allowed any sort of programmable thing, let alone a smartphone.

we were not allowed ANYTHING but an ID card, a #2 pencil, and the paper test packet....

Swoka Ikran

Quote from: Thomas R on July 22, 2011, 05:56:27 PM
You were allowed your phone?  :o We weren't allowed any sort of programmable thing, let alone a smartphone.
Also surprised here. We were allowed anything that didn't have a connection to the outside world (i.e. texting or internet), so I used my TI83+. The functionality I needed...I just wrote programs for it over lunch. Most were just so I could work faster...one halved the time I needed for a specific type of problem.

Differential calculus isn't that bad when you understand it (I could've done most of it with a basic scientific calculator). Integrals...let's not go there.

Quote from: Tirea Aean on July 22, 2011, 06:23:33 PM
we were not allowed ANYTHING but an ID card, a #2 pencil, and the paper test packet....
Ouch. What test? SAT?
2010 was the year of the Na'vi.Vivar 'ivong Na'vi!


 
Avatray | NWOTD Sigbars | Sacred's Sigbar Tool | My collection of Avatar merchandise

Tirea Aean

#28
All math tests(and quizzes) at my university(that I've taken so far, anyway,) strictly prohibit calculators and electronics of all kinds.

Swoka Ikran

Quote from: Tirea Aean on July 22, 2011, 07:10:19 PM
All math tests at my university strictly prohibit calculators and electronics of all kinds.
That sucks. If my college was like that, I'd probably take my math in at another college that allowed calculators and transfer the credits. How many more maths do you need?

At my campus, our profs actually teach us how to do a lot of the work on the calculator, and permit us to use the calculator method on the test (although doing so means no partial credit for wrong answers, since using a calculator means not showing work).
2010 was the year of the Na'vi.Vivar 'ivong Na'vi!


 
Avatray | NWOTD Sigbars | Sacred's Sigbar Tool | My collection of Avatar merchandise

Tirea Aean

well we are just required to show work. and honestly, the numbers used on the problems are very forgiving. not crazy ridiculous ugly numbers. they are decent to work with and usually work out okay. (SOMETIMES tehy are crazy) but it's mostly that the prof wants to see that we get the CONCEPT, because it's expected that we can perform arithmetic operations.

Of course we could use whatever we wanted for homework, software, calculators, etc

Swoka Ikran

Quote from: Tirea Aean on July 22, 2011, 07:23:18 PM
well we are just required to show work. and honestly, the numbers used on the problems are very forgiving. not crazy ridiculous ugly numbers.
That's probably why we were allowed calculators. Our problems were almost always ugly (both functions and answers). For one test we had, our prof offered loaner TI-83s to those who wanted them because of the difficulty. A TI-36 Scientific or better is listed on the syllabus as mandatory, with a graphing calculator recommended.

If you're curious about the class difficulty...the class I was in had just over 30 students when it started. 11 were left in December, and of those, at least 2 failed.
2010 was the year of the Na'vi.Vivar 'ivong Na'vi!


 
Avatray | NWOTD Sigbars | Sacred's Sigbar Tool | My collection of Avatar merchandise

ExLibrisMortis

Quote from: Tirea Aean on July 22, 2011, 06:23:33 PM
Quote from: Thomas R on July 22, 2011, 05:56:27 PM
Quote from: ExLibrisMortis on July 22, 2011, 05:52:26 PM
Quote from: 'Oma Tirea on February 18, 2011, 11:58:13 PM
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

WIN+++ ;D



Especially their app on my phone, helped me ace many a tests in Calc
You were allowed your phone?  :o We weren't allowed any sort of programmable thing, let alone a smartphone.

we were not allowed ANYTHING but an ID card, a #2 pencil, and the paper test packet....
Quote from: Thomas R on July 22, 2011, 05:56:27 PM
Quote from: ExLibrisMortis on July 22, 2011, 05:52:26 PM
Quote from: 'Oma Tirea on February 18, 2011, 11:58:13 PM
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

WIN+++ ;D



Especially their app on my phone, helped me ace many a tests in Calc
You were allowed your phone?  :o We weren't allowed any sort of programmable thing, let alone a smartphone.

We were allowed calculators, and since my phone is a calculator, ta-da! And my teachers are more about the practical application of the knowledge, and understanding of it too. They didn't care what tools you used to get your answers, as long as you demonstrated capability in the information.

DJ Makto

Aye I remember a few classes where I had to do basically a combination of matrix math and pre-calculus by hand without any calculators.  :o

Clarke

I remember being immensely relieved when I learned he TI-84 (got loaned one for the course) could do matrix arithmetic.  :D  (And then the exam board force you to do it anyway by including variables in the matrices.)

Yayo

Quote from: Thomas R on July 23, 2011, 05:29:17 AM
I remember being immensely relieved when I learned he TI-84 (got loaned one for the course) could do matrix arithmetic.  :D  (And then the exam board force you to do it anyway by including variables in the matrices.)

HRH! That would help! :P


Yayo on facebook
Skxaypxe: callofdoty95

Irtaviš Ačankif

KAlgebra for graphing, GNU Octave and my little fx-9860g calculator for calculating. Open-soursì yawne lu oer.
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng on July 24, 2011, 09:13:58 AM
KAlgebra for graphing, GNU Octave and my little fx-9860g calculator for calculating. Open-soursì yawne lu oer.

OH YES! I use KAlgebra and Octave :D (How could I forget KAlgebra?? O_O)

Tsim apiak = open source ;D ;D

'Oma Tirea

Quote from: Swoka Ikran on July 21, 2011, 11:19:46 PM
Quote from: Yayo on July 21, 2011, 11:14:25 PM
I use a Casio Classpad 3000. I also have an emulator of the calculator on my computer. It's awesome.
That thing looks REALLY cool. Certainly blows the socks off my TI-83 Plus...

Mllte.  It even seems better that a TI-89.

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

bommel

I have to work with Matlab now because I need it for my bachelor thesis (I'm writing an extension)