[comp.sys.mac.apps] Mathematica or Theorist

gt7601b@prism.gatech.EDU (TSUNG,FU-LIN) (07/28/90)

Greetings

   Can anyone tell me what mathematica can do that the theorist can't.

I have heard a lot of good things about the theorist, but since I am
not familiar w/ either, and the difference is about a couple hundred dollars,
just want to know what I'll be missing if I buy the Theorist.

  Thanks.

spencer@eecs.umich.edu (Spencer W. Thomas) (07/30/90)

In article <11916@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt7601b@prism.gatech.EDU (TSUNG,FU-LIN) writes:
>    Can anyone tell me what mathematica can do that the theorist can't.

Quickly: Mathematica is programmable, Theorist isn't.

But Theorist is nice, it's smaller, and it's cheaper.  It works quite
differently.  It took me a while to get used to the style.  Basically,
it automates the process you would go through on paper trying to
manipulate equations.  You can rearrange equations, expand, collect,
simplify, and substitute one equation into another.  You see the whole
history of what you've done.  Mathematica is more automatic.

On the other hand, the user interface in Theorist is generally much
nicer than Mathematica's.

--
=Spencer W. Thomas 		EECS Dept, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
spencer@eecs.umich.edu		313-936-2616 (8-6 E[SD]T M-F)