[Chicago] Has anyone used Maple?

[Lewit, Douglas]

Hey thanks Lane.  I never heard of Spot Hero.  Sounds interesting.  When I
visit Chicago I usually just park at Loyola University on the north side
(Devon & Sheridan) and then take buses and trains, or I park my car at
Northeastern.... and again take buses and trains!  Why did this meetup
group decide on the Merchandise Mart?


On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 2:11 AM, Lane Campbell <lane at strapr.com> wrote:

> Parking does suck around merchandise mart.  I either cab it over or try to
> find something close using spot hero.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 14, 2015, at 4:22 PM, Lewit, Douglas <d-lewit at neiu.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> First off, thanks for the invitation to the meeting on Thursday evening.
> What's the parking situation like at the Merchandise Mart?  I'm tempted to
> just park at Loyola and then take the train over.  I hate parking in
> downtown.  Difficult and expensive.
>
> Has anyone used Maple software for mathematics?  I used it a lot when I
> was working on my math degree, and then kind of forgot about it for a few
> years, and just it used on and off a little.  I recently purchased their
> 2015 version and wow!  I love it.  It actually has a lot in common with
> Python.  There are of course some big differences.  The arrays are
> 1-indexed instead of 0-indexed.  Python is a general-purpose programming
> language while Maple is really intended for mathematical and statistical
> research.  Python is object-oriented.  Maple can implement modules of code,
> and can also implement subroutines or sub-programs, but I think technically
> Maple's programming language is procedural.  But both are interpreted and
> weakly typed (or dynamically typed, depending on the terminology that you
> prefer to use) and both are excellent choices for complex data analysis.
>
> Of course the big difference is Maple is commercial software while Python
> is free and open source.  Also, I suspect that Maple's computer algebra
> power surpasses the power of Python's Sympy package.  Sympy is very good,
> but when it comes to computer algebra you really can't compete with Maple.
> In fact, I think that's really what Maple was originally designed
> for--computer algebra.
>
> I appreciate your feedback.
>
> Best,
>
> Douglas Lewit
>
> P.S.  Don't forget to let me know about parking at the Merchandise Mart!
> Is anyone driving from the northern suburbs?  Can I persuade anyone to
> carpool with me?  I'm a good suburban driver, but I get kind of nervous
> when I'm forced to drive in Chicago, especially downtown Chicago.
>
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