Mathematical Analysis Software - Pandora.

[cosurgi]

Do you know any good math software for Pandora? My HP48 calculator is 12 years old, and a lot bigger and bulkier than Pandora. I want to replace it with Pandora!

The portable math analysis tool that I'm using right now:

• HP48G with 256 kB memory, a most powerful portable tool for mathematical manipulation currently present on the planet (but only when Erable and SpeedUI libraries are installed).

Currently I'm using on my linux box, and will install on Pandora immediately:

• gnuplot - a perfect tool for complex graphs a simple computation. Better than HP48 at graphs, a lot worse in anything else.
• derive - a very old DOS based software with differentiation, limits, integrals, etc. (I use it under dosemu). A little worse capabilities than HP48, but I've grown with it, so I know it quite well.
• wxmaxima - a nice software, quite powerful but with rather weird interface to use. I still had no time to read more of the manual, but it apparently is much better than HP48. I use it mainly for very complex symbolic manipulations.
• HP48G emulator.

Suff I know about, but I'm not using.

• mathematica - the most powerful ever. Would satisfy all my needs and a lot more than I'll ever need. If they released a Pandora version (there are linux & solaris versions) I would check the price but not sure if I'd buy it...
• octave - a matlab clone. Programmable, but limited symbolic capabilities

Stuff that I have found on wikipedia, and never heard about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_computer_algebra_system_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_computer_algebra_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_numerical_analysis_software

• Axiom (computer algebra system)
• Cadabra (computer program)
• CoCoA System
• Dynamic Computer Algebra System
• EICASLAB
• Fermat (computer algebra system)
• FreeMat
• GAP computer algebra system
• Genius (software)
• GiNaC
• Gmsh
• Gretl
• ILNumerics.Net
• KANT (mathematics)
• LabVIEW
• LiveMath
• Lush (programming language)
• Macaulay2
• Magma computer algebra system
• Maple (software)
• MapleSim
• Mathemagix
• Mathomatic
• NumPy
• OpenOpt
• PARI/GP
• Paradiseo
• SHEEP (symbolic computation system)
• SINGULAR
• Sage (mathematics software)
• SciPy
• Scilab
• SymPy
• Xcas
• Yacas

Now I'm curious - maybe you know something good, that you could recommend? Do you recognize any of those above, and could recommend as being quite good? An integrated mechanism to swap formulas between that software and TeX would be useful, even my calculator HP48 has that!

best regards

 

[fuzzypinkunicorns666]

Xcas may be what you're looking for: it's based on the code from the HP49/50 series, which is itself based on Erable. So it's probably most similar to what you're used to. The only problem is that part of the menu bar is cut off at 800x480, but that's not too big of a deal.

And the HP48 isn't quite the most powerful anymore, the HP50g is slightly more powerful and significantly faster now! And it's also much cheaper than getting a GX with RAM cards and less effort than upgrading the G (which I have) with enough RAM for Erable and Speedui to be usable. Though the keyboard layout isn't nearly as nice.

 

[Tempel]

It's not on your list, but I've used SymPy to great effect for symbolic math. I think it's written in pure python, so should be very portable, though it has to be used from within python (unless you use SAGE, which uses SymPy in its backend). NumPy (and the scientific extension, SciPy) are very useful too; NumPy is in the Angstrom repos, but SciPy isn't, so I don't know how hard it would be to port. I've used all three for a bunch of my work (along with matplotlib AKA pyplot for plotting) and have only ever been mildly let down.

 

[polyroy]

You should really give SAGE Math at try, it aims to be a wrapper for all current math software (both open source and closed), choosing the fastest components for the problems you give it, and offers it through a nice generic Python front-end. It already matches Mathematica in features, as far as I could tell.

The Notebook GUI that comes with it is web-based and could be used through any browser on the Pandora without any porting, if you have a server running somewhere.

If you intend to run SageMath directly on the Pandora, be prepared to do major customization (either dropping parts or rewriting a lot of code) as quite a bit of the software SageMath wraps around has been heavily optimized for specific architectures. It is not a trivial task. For Linux X86, there's a Debian package somewhere.

 

[cosurgi]

Thanks for your replies,

Xcas may be what you're looking for: it's based on the code from the HP49/50 series, which is itself based on Erable. So it's probably most similar to what you're used to. The only problem is that part of the menu bar is cut off at 800x480, but that's not too big of a deal.

And the HP48 isn't quite the most powerful anymore, the HP50g is slightly more powerful and significantly faster now! And it's also much cheaper than getting a GX with RAM cards and less effort than upgrading the G (which I have) with enough RAM for Erable and Speedui to be usable. Though the keyboard layout isn't nearly as nice.

Oh, right, I was writing fast and I forgot about HP50. Of course HP50 is more powerful And also it has ARM processor and runs on top of Saturn emulator. I had upgraded myself my HP48G from 32kB to 256kB about 12 years ago Recently I purchased on ebay a broken HP48G+ for $10 to replace the keyboard in my HP48. It had worn off a bit too much. Now I have an almost new keyboard which works great.

Definitely I must have a look at Xcas

It's not on your list, but I've used SymPy to great effect for symbolic math. I think it's written in pure python, so should be very portable, though it has to be used from within python (unless you use SAGE, which uses SymPy in its backend). NumPy (and the scientific extension, SciPy) are very useful too; NumPy is in the Angstrom repos, but SciPy isn't, so I don't know how hard it would be to port. I've used all three for a bunch of my work (along with matplotlib AKA pyplot for plotting) and have only ever been mildly let down.

I heard about those three Sym/Num/Sci-Py a little bit, never tried using them. Also, learning python is on my list. Maybe I will try to mix the two (learning python and using SymPy). I will try and compare with Xcas, depends on how I will feel those two.

 

[Spirit]

I am using Maple for University. Its Linux version seems to be Java so there might be a chance. It is nice for algebra.

 

[cosurgi]

@fuzzypinkunicorns666 - do you plan to replace your HP48G with Pandora too? Or you just aren't needing CAS right now?

You should really give SAGE Math at try, it aims to be a wrapper for all current math software (both open source and closed), choosing the fastest components for the problems you give it, and offers it through a nice generic Python front-end. It already matches Mathematica in features, as far as I could tell.

The Notebook GUI that comes with it is web-based and could be used through any browser on the Pandora without any porting, if you have a server running somewhere.

If you intend to run SageMath directly on the Pandora, be prepared to do major customization (either dropping parts or rewriting a lot of code) as quite a bit of the software SageMath wraps around has been heavily optimized for specific architectures. It is not a trivial task. For Linux X86, there's a Debian package somewhere.

Thanks polyroy - so now I'm looking silly when I say that I didn't learn python yet But you describe it to be very promising. I'll check it out. Also - unfortunately - I want to run it directly on Pandora (instead of carrying HP48G with me), and hacking python code isn't for me. (yet?)

 

[Alec]

Never tried wxmaxima, but the command-line maxima is amazing.

 

[zhasha]

I am using Maple for University. Its Linux version seems to be Java so there might be a chance. It is nice for algebra.

As awesome as that would be, Maple runs unfairly slow on my 1.6GHz Core Duo, so I wouldn't count on it. Also, it ships with java, so you'll have to do some hacking to get it to run

 

[trats20050]

What about this emulator for the iphone?

http://www.mksg.de/

 

[hch]

Hi Cosurgi,

i plan to use maxima on the pandora. in fact, this (and xterm) is the prime reason i bought one

i can fulheartedly recommend maxima. i upgraded to it from mathematica . it can integrate functions mathematica struggles with out of the box.

anyways, there was a long standing issue with porting the underlying LISP (or more preiseley, the forgein function call layer) to arm-eabi. it seems that while the pandora was in development, some guy fixed it for the nokia tablets. check this one out:

http://talk.maemo.org/archive/index.php/t-15011.html
http://maemo.vivaphp.net/pool/

the soluion seems to be quite straightforward, so one of the first things i'll try is to natively compile it on the p.

 

[renwils]

Rlab is an open source alternative to matlab. I used it for my statistics class last semester.

 

[washo]

You know...
I still have my 48SX with a 32KB card
Best thing in the world...I'd love to have an emulator, but nothing will beat the real machine, hours spent doing maths, and playing Babale, pheonix, ejaculator...
*cry*

 

[fuzzypinkunicorns666]

@fuzzypinkunicorns666 - do you plan to replace your HP48G with Pandora too? Or you just aren't needing CAS right now?

I've actually already replaced it with an HP50G. And I think I'll end up using the Pandora as a supplement to that, but not a total replacement. The Pandora has the advantage of being more pocketable with a much faster CPU. The 50G, on the other hand, has a much better keyboard (for calculating purposes, not typing), much better battery life, and is probably in general more user-friendly*. Since I'm a student, I'll also need to use it on exams and such. So I'll probably still use the 50G at my desk and use the Pandora I'm on the go and/or for anything too complex for the 50G to handle quickly. The Pandora will just be another tool in my (already larger than necessary) arsenal of calculating tools.

*By user-friendly, I really mean familiar. The HP48 series is great, but there's a pretty steep learning curve. I went several years without realizing that there was a multiple equation solver or knowing how to use INFORM dialogs. And I still probably don't know how to use half of the functions available.

 

[cosurgi]

wow, that's a freaking lot of answers. Thanks a lot guys

I will check, then:

• learn more maxima
• Xcas
• Rlab
• SymPy and SAGEMath if I learn python
• mksg.de

and skip maple as you say that it's too slow.

@washo - now I must download Babal, pheonix, ejaculator

@fuzzypinkunicorns666 - I'm also not using it to full extend, but it's a great calc
I already installed Xcas on my PC (found a debian package on the site). It looks good.