Free Software Brings Affordability, Transparency To Mathematics

ScienceDaily ^ | Dec. 7, 2007 | ScienceDaily and University of Washington.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Until recently, a student solving a calculus problem, a physicist modeling a galaxy or a mathematician studying a complex equation had to use powerful computer programs that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. But an open-source tool based at the University of Washington won first prize in the scientific software division of Les Trophées du Libre, an international competition for free software.

The tool, called Sage, faced initial skepticism from the mathematics and education communities.

"I've had a surprisingly large number of people tell me that something like Sage couldn't be done -- that it just wasn't possible," said William Stein, associate professor of mathematics and lead developer of the tool. "I'm hearing that less now."

Open-source software, which distributes programs and all their underlying code for free, is increasingly used in everyday applications. Firefox, Linux and Open Office are well-known examples.

But until recently, nobody had done the same for the everyday tools used in mathematics. Over the past three years, more than a hundred mathematicians from around the world have worked with Stein to build a user-friendly tool that combines powerful number-crunching with new features, such as collaborative online worksheets.

"A lot of people said: 'Wow, I've been waiting forever for something like this,'" Stein said. "People are excited about it."

Sage can take the place of commercial software commonly used in mathematics education, in large government laboratories and in math-intensive research. The program can do anything from mapping a 12-dimensional object to calculating rainfall patterns under global warming.

The idea began in 2005, when Stein was an assistant professor at Harvard University.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[Nateman]

Here's a link to SAGE .

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks...got to take a look at it.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here is another one...:

SLATEC Mathematical Library v4.1

[SunkenCiv]

I guess paper and pencil has really skyrocketed in price, eh? ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

here’s one about a professor who built a PS3-based supercomputer for practically no money (the PS3s were donated by Sony):

Sony Might Have Gotten It Right with the PS3 from the Beginning
Softpedia | November 5th, 2007 | Filip Truta
Posted on 11/25/2007 1:38:14 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1930299/posts

[ShadowAce]

[grey_whiskers]

Like, *PING*, dudes.

You might want to pass this around TOS, if it isn't there already.

Cheers!

[SunkenCiv]

Math Advance Threatens Computer Security
DISCOVER | 12.28.2007 | Stephen Ornes
Posted on 01/05/2008 1:44:14 AM EST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1948634/posts

[avg_freeper]

There is also Octave which is an open source version of a matlab like software.

[snowsislander]

That's nice how it is able to wrap other powerful tools such as GP/Pari in what appears to be a clean fashion.

I am a bit dubious about using web-browsers as the main interface; in simply trying to play with the examples, I already had error messages relating to my specific browser.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Is that Firefox?

[snowsislander]

Is that Firefox?

Firefox worked acceptably; it was Konqueror that was unhappy.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I’m never happy with Konqueror ....thanks.

[Nateman]

So what’s wrong with Konqueror? I use Ubuntu and I’ve been considering getting this program but have been hesitant to switch from Gnome to KDE.

[RightWhale]

VisiCalc did calculus or any other kind of mathematics involving calculations. Anybody can be Wolfram in the computer age.

[RightWhale]

With paper and pencil you can write the matrix equivalent of a quadratic equation before the computer has booted.