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Mathematical Tools at MIT: Software Overview
Introduction
Information Services and Technology (IS&T) provides several options for numerical and mathematical software for academic and research uses. These software packages are licensed for use on the Athena platform and most can be acquired for private machines at deeply discounted rates (or even free) through Volume Site License Software (VSLS). The major mathematical software packages are:
- MATLAB
- Mathematica
- Maple
The sections below provide an overview of those with links to more information from the vendor to help you determine which is right for you.
MATLAB
The MATLAB product family from The MathWorks includes a set of mathematical software modules - called "toolboxes" - for numeric computation, visualization, and algorithm development. The main module, MATLAB, which is by far the most commonly used math software at MIT, includes:
- Built-in functions for data analysis, statistics, linear algebra, differential equations, and other numerical computations
- High-level programming capabilities for developing user-defined functions and algorithms
- 2D and 3D visualization functionalities.
MATLAB is the foundation for Simulink, a simulation and modeling platform, and all other MathWorks products. The main MATLAB module can be extended with Simulink and with add-on toolboxes for advanced statistical analysis, signal and image processing, algorithm optimization, and discipline-specific functionalities such as financial modeling or bioinformatics.
Many undergraduate and graduate courses as well as research groups in science and engineering departments throughout MIT use MATLAB and Simulink. A good knowledge of matrix mathematics is essential before using MATLAB; the name "MatLab" stands for Matrix Laboratory and all computations are done in matrix form.
MATLAB and Simulink (including many toolboxes are provided on Athena free of charge for academic use. MIT community members can use Athena in General Use Clusters or on a privately owned Athena workstations.
Students are eligible to receive MATLAB free of charge for academic use on personally owned machines. For more information, see: MATLAB for Students.
For information about acquiring MATLAB for Faculty, Staff and Students on MIT owned computers, see: MATLAB at MIT: MATLAB License Distribution Program.
Mathematica
Mathematica, a powerful symbolic math software from Wolfram Research Inc., handles complex symbolic computations that include hundreds of thousands to even millions of terms. It also provides math typesetting capabilities, so that expressions can be entered in math notation, and very high precision numeric computation abilities. Additionally, there are built-in functions for:
- Data analysis
- Statistics
- Linear algebra
- Differential equations
- 2D and 3D visualization
- Add-on functions for advanced mathematical analysis.
Mathematica is used in some undergraduate and graduate classes, but most commonly it is applied to research projects, including graduate theses, in which the ability for symbolic computation is essential.
On Athena, Mathematica is provided free of charge. MIT community members can use Athena in General Use Clusters or on privately owned Athena workstations.
For more information on acquiring Mathematica for a private machine, See: Mathematica.
Maple
Maple, a math software from Maplesoft Inc., provides capabilities for:
- Numeric and symbolic computations
- Math typesetting and symbol recognition
- Data analysis and statistics
- Linear algebra and differential equations
- 2D and 3D graphics.
Maple is provided on Athena free of charge. MIT community members can use Athena in General Use Clusters or on privately owned Athena workstations.
For information on acquiring Maple for a private machine, see: Maple at MIT.
Other Software
In addition to the above packages offered by VSLS, many other mathematical software packages are available on Athena including tecplot, stata, sas, splus and octave. MIT community members can use Athena in General Use Clusters or on privately owned Athena workstations. For a complete listing of mathematical software packages on Athena see: What Runs Where: Numerical/Math Software. For a listing of mathematical programming libraries, see What Runs Where: Programming Libraries.
