# Software for physics calculations

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What is some good free software for doing physics calculations?

I'm mainly interested in symbolic computation (something like Mathematica, but free).

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user grizzly adam

recategorized Apr 24, 2014
Related question: Which software(s) handle units and unit conversion best?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user sigoldberg1
Community wiki? (Also: sigoldberg1, can we have a link?)

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user David Z
@sigoldberg: Google Calculator can perform unit conversion.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user KennyTM
Converted to community wiki, as this is the most appropriate question form here.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user Noldorin

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Some software I have used or has been recommended to me for physics-related work:

• WolframAlpha -- when I don't have Maple around, I use it for simple symbolic calculations
• Maxima -- free open source alternative to Maple/Mathematica
• Sage -- quite an interesting open source symbolic/numerical package, you can try it online at sagenb.org
• Scilab/GNU Octave -- alternatives to Matlab, best if you want to any numerical computations
• R -- powerful programming language used for statistical analysis
• OpenOffice Calc -- I'll put it here for completeness as Excel and its variants seem to be the software of choice for most experimental calculations.
This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user Flaviu Cipcigan
answered Nov 4, 2010 by (0 points)
Maxima has a units package, as do the commercial software systems.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user sigoldberg1
Maybe throw Gnuplot into the mix? I love it for quick and easy plots of functions and data series, and when I then need something more polished I can very easily reuse the gnuplot code from other examples. Better than pointing and clicking to get results.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user Lagerbaer
SymPy should also probably be added to this list.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-03 11:46 (UCT), posted by SE-user Simon
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It is probably worth your while to buy Mathematica, Maple, or Matlab, depending on your needs. I wish it weren't so, but this is one area in which the commercial tools are still vastly better than their free counterparts.