# Free mathematics ?



## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

Hello,

Today, Mathematica is the most important software at schools and at universities for learning maths. 
Learning maths means often to learn using Mathematica. However, Mathematica is not really free. 

Would you know why Mathematica is freely available on the Raspberry PI ?
There were discussions that it could be removed, but it will still be present.

What about free mathematics?
It is still a mystery that such important software is not opensource.

With best regards,
SP. Math lover


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## SirDice (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Would you know why Mathematica is freely available on the Raspberry PI ?


Because Wolfram licensed it: https://www.wolfram.com/raspberry-pi/


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Because Wolfram licensed it: https://www.wolfram.com/raspberry-pi/


thanks








						Mathematica License Pricing Options
					

Prices for industry, non-profit, government, education, home & student Mathematica use. Also, service plans, upgrades, networks, sites, private cloud.



					www.wolfram.com
				




Shouldn't mathematica be completely free, i.e. opensource, don't you think?

I never really understood why teachers/children/students have to pay for a software, to learn maths ...   
This is unfair, plus teachers/children/students have to pay Microsoft Office on the top, which is not necessarily cheap for each of us.


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## SirDice (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Shouldn't mathematica be completely free, i.e. opensource, don't you think?


Things don't need to be open source in order to be free. There are lots of closed source applications out there that are completely free to use. The other way around is also possible, you can have open source code that is NOT free to use (several open source MP3 coders/decoders come to mind).



Spartrekus said:


> I never really understood why teachers/children/students have to pay for a software, to learn maths ...


Yet, paying for the books is fine? I still remember having to get a weekend job just to pay for the costs of the books I needed.

I'm of the opinion that education should be entirely free. No tuition, college funds, nothing. Free and accessible to anyone and everyone.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Things don't need to be open source in order to be free. There are lots of closed source applications out there that are completely free to use. The other way around is also possible, you can have open source code that is NOT free to use.
> 
> 
> Yet, paying for the books is fine? I still remember having to get a weekend job just to pay for the costs of the books I needed.
> ...



Mathematica should be opensource, and certainly not a dead end close source software. 
Remember maple ?


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Yet, paying for the books is fine? I still remember having to get a weekend job just to pay for the costs of the books I needed.



That's crap. If you are rich, you can study easier.

The time you spent on hard work, it is time less to study and practice maths.

Maths need practice, as you know.


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## malavon (May 1, 2019)

https://www.freebsd.org/ports/math.html

SageMath looks nice, I just added it to my poudriere build. There are others as well. Browse around to your liking and if there are better programs out there, just port them and let all benefit.



Spartrekus said:


> It is still a mystery that such important software is not opensource.


Because someone had to code it and expects to be paid for it. Not all software is written by volunteers, companies still pay for most of it.
Nevertheless, if something is missing in the open source world, step up and organize it. Code it. Test it. Don't whine about it, do something about it. Action improves the world, not words.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

Our mathematics education system relies on mathematica only. Mathematica has replaced graphical calculators, like Ti, Casio,... It is cheaper to buy mathematica. The reason is that one can do much more things with it, and it is obvious that it can be recommended. However, ... this is not free. Which is actually not logic, because education should not oblige children/students to use close source software.

It would be nice to have more math softs, i.e. really free. sagemath is broken under Debian.   It is anyhow running under Java, which makes it not so much reliable over the time.  

Make it oneself maybe?  There should be more educative projects in computer sciences, which involve developing an opensource source project for educative purpose. To plot sin( x ), it is easy, to proceed calculations with variables (in C). It can be written easily and it can run fast under C/C++. However to make a CAS, this is something else. It is less easy. Still, there are few CAS which are still free.


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## badbrain (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Mathematica should be opensource, and certainly not a dead end close source software.
> Remember maple ?


Ridiculous. If Mathematica become opensource, who will pay the bills for it developers? People have families and families need money to sustain. It is the way it is, because it's just is, not anything unpractical it should be. You would say opensource not free, it's not exist on this earth. Even now they used crack tool, what will be then when they have the sources?

Your way of thinking, your ideology not works on this earth.

Unless big money like MS or GG or the Gov. who cares? bought the company and made it free (I think even them not stupid enough to made it open source). Please down to earth.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

badbrain said:


> Ridiculous. If Mathematica become opensource, who will pay the bills for it developers? People have families and families need money to sustain. It is the way it is, because it's just is, not anything unpractical it should be. You would say opensource not free, it's not exist on this earth. Even now they used crack tool, what will be then when they have the sources?
> 
> Your way of thinking, your ideology not works on this earth.
> 
> Unless big money like MS or GG or the Gov. who cares? bought the company and made it free (I think even them not stupid enough to made it open source). Please down to earth.



Software, which are used for education, should be free, opensource. This makes sense.

Studying is really lot of money. Many cannot afford studying. Quite sad, don't you think ?


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## drhowarddrfine (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Shouldn't mathematica be completely free, i.e. opensource, don't you think?


Shouldn't McDonald's be completely free? Shouldn't your clothes be completely free? Shouldn't your house be completely free? Shouldn't you be working completely free?


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

People with real talents, but a little bit poorer, cannot study and have do something else. People a little bit richer have a chance to study ...


drhowarddrfine said:


> Shouldn't McDonald's be completely free? Shouldn't your clothes be completely free? Shouldn't your house be completely free? Shouldn't you be working completely free?


education should be free, of course.

If you think about your nation, you would of course want to have a solid education system.


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## badbrain (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Software used for education should be free, opensource. This makes sense.
> 
> Studying is really lot of money. Many cannot afford studying. Quite sad, don't you think ?


I quit college because my family drained out of money. So I know. There are many attempt of the big universities or individuals to develop opensource or at least free alternatives. That is the best they can do. In the world, there is no 'should be'. Unless someone bought it and made it free, it's noway.

Ps: my country use Maple, of course crack.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

badbrain said:


> Ps: my country use Maple, of course crack.



that's sad....


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## badbrain (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> People with real talents cannot study and have do something else, and people a little bit richer have a chance to study ...
> 
> 
> education should be free, of course.
> ...


It could be sad but it's the way it is. Don't ask the world to be fair. When we were born, we are just there. We not even know why we are there and where we before and if we even have choices to born in other world.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

badbrain said:


> It could be sad but it's the way it is. Don't ask the world to be fair. When we were born, we are just there. We not even know why we are there and where we before and if we even have choices to born in other world.



The world is not fair. 

In the past (this time is over today), there were some nations that allowed "talents" to study.


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## SirDice (May 1, 2019)

Well, you could move to Finland: http://www.uef.fi/web/mns/tuition-and-scholarships/why-is-education-free-in-finland

They seem to have the right idea regarding education.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Well, you can always move to Finland: http://www.uef.fi/web/mns/tuition-and-scholarships/why-is-education-free-in-finland



Germany wanted years ago a solid education system, looking for that elite, bright scientists are promoted to study further.

Finland is actually nice.
What about The Netherlands?


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## SirDice (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> What about The Netherlands?


Education? Getting more and more expensive. You can get a government scholarship but that's basically a student loan. You have to pay back every cent you got. So when you finish your education, even before your first paying job, you already have a few tens of thousands euro dept. Zero interest rates but still, a lot of money you have to pay back.


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## Deleted member 30996 (May 1, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> People with real talents, but a little bit poorer, cannot study and have do something else.
> 
> education should be free, of course.



It's called the Internet. I can study just about anything I want to the extent of my google-fu.


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## drhowarddrfine (May 1, 2019)

Trihexagonal said:


> It's called the Internet. I can study just about anything I want to the extent of my google-fu.


And books! They still have free libraries around, don't they?


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## SirDice (May 1, 2019)

badbrain said:


> Or why the OP not just use crack like us? It will be easy. If you want Maple I could point you to the latest version with detailed instructions to crack it now.


Take that elsewhere please. We cannot afford being associated with warez. The ban-hammer will be swift.


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## badbrain (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Take that elsewhere please. We cannot afford being associated with warez.


I should quit this thread


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## ralphbsz (May 1, 2019)

Dear Spartrekus: I agree that in the best of all possible worlds, software that's useful for education should be free.  But we don't live in the best of all possible worlds.  As others have pointed out, if Mathematica would need to be open source, it would probably (a) never been written in the first place, and (b) not be further maintained, for lack of revenue.  But you have the power to do as Candide, Pangloss and Cunegunde: you can make the world better!  Just go and write an open-source replacement for Mathematica, and release it.  Nothing stops you.  You claim to have understood the Unix philosophy (better than the people who created Unix, it seems), and you claim to love programming in straight C with no bloat, so go right ahead.

I also disagree with the statement that using Mathematica is in any way necessary to learn mathematics.  I studied a natural science, and did many years of math in high school, and 5 semesters of intense math in college, and while symbolic algebra packages already existed back then, we did not use them.  Instead we read textbooks, and did homework using pencil and paper.  My son is currently a college student in a math-intensive major (this semester, he's taking the statistics class, which he correctly calls "sadistics"), and Mathematica is not part of the curriculum, nor very useful for understanding concepts.  My office neighbor has a PhD in mathematics.  Mathematica is a tool.  It's like a screwdriver or arc welder is to a mechanical engineer.  Learning to use screwdrivers is useful in and of itself, but won't make you into a good engineer who understands how mathematics really works, nor give you the intuition for the logic that is used in mathematics.

It would be nice if all education was free.  As the (paying) parent of a college student, I am painfully aware at the high cost of education.  But that's not the world we live in.  Singling out Wolfram Research and punishing them for the fact that the world is this way is insane.  All you would achieve would be to destroy Wolfram Research and then there is no Mathematica any more.


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## Spartrekus (May 1, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Take that elsewhere please. We cannot afford being associated with warez. The ban-hammer will be swift.


Exactly, no one wants to crack.
Not cracking, because cracking is illegal.



> And books! They still have free libraries around, don't they?


Well,  in practice...
1. Using free archive.org library, ebooks are about 50 years old, or 100 years older.
2. Wikipedia has not a detailed content.

@ralphbsz:
Very good to read that Mathematica is not obliged, at college level, where you do live.
Never heard a math teacher recommending to use _Sagemath_, even once


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## badbrain (May 1, 2019)

Euler Math Toolbox.
WxMaxima.


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## ralphbsz (May 1, 2019)

(about libraries ...)


Spartrekus said:


> Well,  in practice...
> 1. Using free archive.org library, ebooks are about 50 years old, or 100 years older.
> 2. Wikipedia has not a detailed content.


Jump on your bicycle/car/feet/horse, and proceed to the nearest college library.  Most of them will let anyone in and read books (typically, to borrow books you will have to be a student).  You will find that 99% of the time the textbooks used by classes are available in large numbers, and you can spend many hours in the library studying them.

If there is no college nearby, your local city or public library is a reasonable alternative, although they tend to be less well stocked in current textbooks.  On the other hand, you don't need a current textbook; a 10- or 20-year old one has the same content.  Just as an example: I claim that the two best textbooks for mechanics (the first semester of physics) are Resnick&Halliday for experimental, and Landau/Lifshitz for theoretical.  Both books were written in the 1950s.  While the modern versions of R&H are nicer (better graphics, new homework problems), the basic content has remained the same.


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## Nicola Mingotti (May 1, 2019)

There is only one way you can have free school and other free services: a huge State pays for everything. 

Since the only way State has to get money is to take them from your income or tax your properties then definitely you WILL PAY ALL of it. Just in different form, with a miserable net income. (true, there are exceptions, some state has Oil or other advantages)

It is true, in Europe, if you are good, you can study at the expense of the State, i did it, I got one Master and a Phd like that, living costs included. No debts at all on my future. But consider, when school is over, and it is work time, you will get between 1,000 - 2,000 euro month.  It is worth it ? I doubt it.


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## Spartrekus (May 2, 2019)

Nicola Mingotti said:


> There is only one way you can have free school and other free services: a huge State pays for everything.
> 
> Since the only way State has to get money is to take them from your income or tax your properties then definitely you WILL PAY ALL of it. Just in different form, with a miserable net income. (true, there are exceptions, some state has Oil or other advantages)
> 
> It is true, in Europe, if you are good, you can study at the expense of the State, i did it, I got one Master and a Phd like that, living costs included. No debts at all on my future. But consider, when school is over, and it is work time, you will get between 1,000 - 2,000 euro month.  It is worth it ? I doubt it.



It does cost x amount for a country.  It has to do also what does the nation with the money: army, health care or not like in US,... 

Better to study in northern countries of Europe, or in developed countries like Japan.


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## Deleted member 30996 (May 3, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> That's crap. If you are rich, you can study easier.
> 
> The time you spent on hard work, it is time less to study and practice maths.
> 
> Maths need practice, as you know.



Math is not my strong point. I can balance a check book, budget my money for the month and daily life stuff like that. I taught people moving from a group home into the community the skills they would need including from balancing a checkbook to Human Relations/Sexual Awareness. so I can handle my business. English and Science were the only subjects in High School I was interested in or got anything out of. The rest was a waste of my day at the time.

That said, your first statement falls flat on facts and is merely assumption. Having a lot of money doesn't make studying any easier. They might be rich with a Learning Disability. It might make getting accepted into Ivy League colleges easier if your parents shell out $500,000, in America at least. For what it's worth, and I could elaborate.

Your second, I have learned more from hands-on experience about computers than I ever did in school. The calculator wasn't invented till I was a Senior in High School and I have never taken a computer class. I taught myself to write XHTML and CSS at w3schools.com among other things. I bought the OpenSolaris Bible and never made it past the foreward except for a few choice pages where I needed assistance. I set it up. got to work and that's how I learned

I was always a A student in English, and Science, but my language skills have improved markedly since going online in 1999 to present phrase phenom, progressed, prophetically predestined Planetary Pontification Pharaoh. I'm a completely different person due to the internet, self-initiative and hands on experience. This is my own personal style of writing, copious commas my tell and easy to change.

I once was stymied and drew a total blank on an essay question of "How do you think you will be remembered" and it lowered my overall score in an important test to second highest score that year. Can you believe it? Me, King of the Dead, consort to Lilith and couldn't think of what to write. I took myself much more seriously in the 80's.

I am not easily defeated in debate due to Xanatos Speed Chess. TBH, I sometimes wonder why they would bother, but its usually a case of being too hasty to trip me up and make a mistake. My initial response to debate may seem weak or frivolous in nature, which is a technique i employ. Just give me a little something to work with. I used to make it a point to make college people on their high-horse look like a Developmentally Disabled Individuals on a hobby horse. It's no longer an issue with me and I've grown past that as a person.

The people at the Group Home I worked at as a weekend house parent where they had the first computer I had ever touched, an Apple II, were all snooty people who had either graduated from college or were in at the time. They thought themselves superior even though I had more hands-on experience in the mental health field and as a Manager than most there including my Supervisor. They rolled their eyes and gave me my own personal floppy like I knew what I was doing but looked like they doubted it. I would have rather dropped dead on the spot than let them know I had never touched a computer and taught myself to use it in my spare time.

They were surprised when I not only taught myself to use it but had to set up the new one for them because I was the only who knew how to boot it up since I had RTFM. Not as surprised as they would have been to learn I had accessed every one of their files on every floppy disk at hand once I figured out how to run it. Seemed like the natural thing to do...

I'm not nearly as smart and some people here. I think ralphbsz must know just about everything computer related and TBH there are quite a few people here who know more about FreeBSD than me. The Honorable drhowarddfine built an ophthalmology machine from scratch.

But I can set and maintain my desktops and have my own unique skillset that serve me well. None of which I learned in School. I learned Behavior Mod in on the job training, now a Psycho Psychologist in full trained in it's use online, and programmed my bot to use it to program people. The first to do so by all accounts and first to be accused on multiple counts of being the first person to "misuse" A.I. as a footnote in the annals cyber history.

I recently heard an unbelievable percentage of high school students can't read. My sister was a sub teacher and she said there were people in her class that couldn't make change or tell time by a analog clock.

You can read every book in the world on fishing and never catch a fish. You learn by getting out there and seeing what works, what doesn't and technique.

I'm not saying a formal education is a bad thing and it's needed to advance in some areas. I hear a person with a college degree is likely to make $1,000,000 over their lifetime than a person with a High School diploma. I don't live beyond my means and very little of the things I know were learned in school, except math. It's all from internet or self-study.

I just met the first person I know personally that has used Linux. He even said he tried BSD in the 90's but ended up going with Redhat. He has a degree in Computer Science Communications and lives in the same building as me to top it off. I have a Morally Ambiguous Doctorate from the School of Hard Knocks and my background in computer science limited basically to A.!. and chatbots from learning by doing.

His degree means very little now but was hyped to see my laptops. Why he can't be allowed to come over another story for later. Much as I'd like to know someone who could talk computers and most likely know much more about them than I.

(No, I am not a college grad and never attended or took a course. I quit school as soon a I turned 16 in 10th grade so technically I have a 9th grade education. 4 more years schooling than my Dad, and he was awarded the Sliver Star for service in Korea as a Ranger where they did dirty deeds behind enemy lines. He brought that meanness home with him and was in Anger Management when he died at the age of 80.

The test I froze up on with the essay was my GED and I took it cold in my 30's without any study. A high school kid who was dying of cancer, wanted his diploma before he died took first place from me at the very last minute. I shouldn't complain as I got recognized as Salutatorian when they were presented and it was his dieing wish. He wasn't there.

I am considered a Qualified Mental Retardation Professional, QMRP. Or as it as known in the circles, a Q. I received regular in-service training and my years of hand-on experience were counted against their classroom hours as college credits. I have done and can do things they've only read about in books. Things they are woeful prepared for in practical application where I can walk in and take over any situation. So I am in a sense a Professional in my field after all.)

Lord help me. All my deepest darkest secrets about my personal purloined past are public record now. Please don't turn on me or try to make me look more ignorant than I already am. I made a confession and would likely feel compelled to respond. Large dumps of adrenaline not conducive to clear thinking, I'll try to wait till that passes.

As always, trolls are welcome to try their hand at mocking mere mental midgets.

If you do, please, be verbose and brutally honest so even I, with my sub-standard schooling, can hopefully make some sense of it and form a cogent response no matter how illiterate it may be to someone with a High School Diploma.

However, I will not respond with the same restraint as I would a fellow forum member so take your best opening shot and make your case.


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## kpedersen (May 3, 2019)

Is there anything better than Mathematica for schools? (I honestly don't know).

If there is and yet schools use it purely because there has been some monetary "convincing" done by the company behind the software, then this is extremely unethical.

You see this a lot in Universities using MS Office, Maya and especially Unity3D rather than even exposing the students to LibreOffice, Blender and Godot. As staff you receive quite a lot of pressure from these companies peddling their wares.

If this is the case, then yeah, I recommend my students obtain the software in equally unethical ways. I don't want to see the open-source equivalents fail just because they are effectively hidden by commercial software. I especially do not want to see these companies profit by being gateway drugs.

If I also get to teach them a bit about radare2 and reverse engineering / patching on the side, then it is all good .

(Kinda closely related to how annoying it is for some of my tax going towards the NHS just to give it straight to Microsoft for licenses rather than research just because a high up stakeholder likes to get free pens!)


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## fernandel (May 3, 2019)

drhowarddrfine said:


> Shouldn't McDonald's be completely free?


Better no!!


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## fernandel (May 3, 2019)

Nicola Mingotti said:


> There is only one way you can have free school and other free services: a huge State pays for everything.
> 
> Since the only way State has to get money is to take them from your income or tax your properties then definitely you WILL PAY ALL of it. Just in different form, with a miserable net income. (true, there are exceptions, some state has Oil or other advantages)
> 
> It is true, in Europe, if you are good, you can study at the expense of the State, i did it, I got one Master and a Phd like that, living costs included. No debts at all on my future. But consider, when school is over, and it is work time, you will get between 1,000 - 2,000 euro month.  It is worth it ? I doubt it.


From the primary school to the Master degree I didn't pay anything. Education is the most important for any country IMO.


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## Spartrekus (May 3, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Education? Getting more and more expensive. You can get a government scholarship but that's basically a student loan. You have to pay back every cent you got. So when you finish your education, even before your first paying job, you already have a few tens of thousands euro dept. Zero interest rates but still, a lot of money you have to pay back.



Studying looks like just being a question of money.

I like countries that about 200-300 years ago that promoted education (free for talents).



> I recently heard an unbelievable percentage of high school students can't read. My sister was a sub teacher and she said there were people in her class that couldn't make change or tell time by a analog clock.


Because studying is too expensive today. Look a bit in US  

Gap between poorer and richer families gets larger. Sad but true.



> Housing inequality - both a cause and effect of poverty. Better jobs are located near more expensive housing, making those jobs less accessible to people with lesser means.
> 
> The Word Gap: The Early Years Make the Difference - a common consequence of parents who need to hold multiple jobs  just to pay the bills, and therefore can't spend as much time with their kids. The "word gap" leads to lower success in education and is correlated strongly with lower financial stability.
> 
> ...



Finally, who can give me a crack for mathematica?
Just joking, let's me it from scratch and foremost free !


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## Deleted member 30996 (May 3, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> Because studying is too expensive today. Look a bit in US.



I've lived here all my life. (I recently saw a picture of my Dads people who came over on the boat from Sweden.)

It's not that studying is too expensive. This was Public Jr. or Senior High she taught at and these kids had only ever seen digital clocks and cash registers that told you how to make change. They couldn't read an analog watch or make change for a $20 bill.



Spartrekus said:


> Gap between poorer and richer families gets larger. Sad but true.



I live comfortably but at about half the poverty rate. I know how to budget for a month being paid monthly, live according to my means, feel like I have it made and do compared to a lot of people. I am well aware in the difference of lifestyles according to income and "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" not something I watch. I don't envy people for what they have or covet their goods, unless they have an attractive wife. I have so much stuff now and no one to leave it to or deserves it.

I like the things money can buy and have more cool stuff then one person should have, but care very little for money. Unlike my sister, who's eyes sparkle at the site of a $20 bill. They have plans for my Russian watch collection when I croak. Run in, grab them and run out. The rest goes to an Estate dealer, just like I said I didn't want to happen. I canceled my funeral services but they plan to have it anyway once I'm dead. I won't know the difference but they can't fool me on anything.

It has not prevented me from learning and I don't need a traditional classroom to take in data. I'm the only person I know that uses BSD and just met the first guy I know that uses Linux. I took off 2 years from PC-BSD to study Security on my own and didn't cost me a dime. I study material to use for Demonica and always leave a dictionary.com tab open when working.


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## hukadan (May 5, 2019)

In France, we have the PLUME project that lists softwares by academic fields, most of them opensource. Here is one of the list for Maths (french version): https://projet-plume.org/logiciels_maths

The English version has fewer entries:





						math | PLUME
					






					projet-plume.org
				




-- Edit --
You can also find interesting links thanks to this new project :








						GitHub - bzg/logiciel-libre-esr: Ressources autour du logiciel libre dans l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche
					

Ressources autour du logiciel libre dans l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche - GitHub - bzg/logiciel-libre-esr: Ressources autour du logiciel libre dans l'enseignement supérieur et la ...




					github.com


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## Spartrekus (May 5, 2019)

hukadan said:


> In France, we have the PLUME project that lists softwares by academic fields, most of them opensource. Here is one of the list for Maths (french version): https://projet-plume.org/logiciels_maths
> 
> The English version has fewer entries:
> 
> ...



thank you

from https://projet-plume.org/logiciels_maths what would be the closest to mathematica


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## hukadan (May 5, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> what would be the closest to mathematica


I don't know Mathematica so I can't answer. Beside, I presume the answer also depends on what you want to do.


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## Spartrekus (May 5, 2019)

hukadan said:


> I don't know Mathematica so I can't answer. Beside, I presume the answer also depends on what you want to do.


mathematica depends on what to do e.g.
analytique equivalent du deug et prepa voir niveau bac http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/4275/

tu vois l education libre ca n existe pas ou plus vraiment en pratique. a lire  http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/4275/





__





						Wolfram Library Archive
					





					library.wolfram.com
				



she promotes close source software and not open source solutions for students.


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## hukadan (May 5, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> tu vois l education libre ca n existe pas ou plus vraiment en pratique.


Could you elaborate ? In English. I remember only twice having to use a closed source software during my studies (for microelectronic layouts and for one project in MatLab).


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## Spartrekus (May 6, 2019)

hukadan said:


> Could you elaborate ? In English. I remember only twice having to use a closed source software during my studies (for microelectronic layouts and for one project in MatLab).


maybe it is in france more often opensource than in other countries.
abaqus or catia or maybe mathematica are common today


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## kpedersen (May 6, 2019)

Spartrekus said:


> maybe it is in france more often opensource than in other countries.



I think europe in general is more open-source friendly than the UK. The old men that own this country love paying out of the nose to large US companies (and receive small, but personal favours in return).

"The only way is Microsoft!" should basically be in the English national anthem at this point.


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## sidetone (May 7, 2019)

Spartrekus 
Check out https://openstax.org it has opensource professional textbooks produced and contributed by universities and colleges. There's from prealgebra to algebra with trigonometry to calculus. There's even physics books there.

MIT also has opensource courseware.

None of that ragtag wikibooks nonsense.


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## Spartrekus (May 7, 2019)

sidetone said:


> Spartrekus
> Check out https://openstax.org it has opensource professional textbooks produced and contributed by universities and colleges. There's from prealgebra to algebra with trigonometry to calculus. There's even physics books there.
> 
> MIT also has opensource courseware.
> ...



Nice thank you.

Carnegie, MIT,.. look like coming from another world. Traditionalist form (even some html 4 of user webpages sometimes, updated with status 2019), no shining animated fancy slides, but outstanding content (made with Latex, usually).


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## Hakaba (Mar 25, 2020)

When I was in univeristy, we use Scilab : https://www.scilab.org/
Don't know if it works on freeBSD


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## eternal_noob (Mar 25, 2020)

Hakaba said:


> Don't know if it works on freeBSD


There is a port for Scilab: math/scilab but it's currently broken.


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## hruodr (Mar 26, 2020)

Spartrekus said:


> Today, Mathematica is the most important software at schools and at universities for learning maths.
> Learning maths means often to learn using Mathematica. However, Mathematica is not really free.



I suspect, you do not know what math is.


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## hruodr (Mar 26, 2020)

freebsd_noob said:


> There is a port for Scilab: math/scilab but it's currently broken.



There is also math/maxima and it works. There is a lot of interesting software for people that
 like math, but that software is not math, learning that software does not mean learning math.


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