Is now the time to try mathematica?

[MDJH]

This fall I plan on doing a physics course which uses Mathematica; more specifically, a mechanics course involving differential equations. Some, but not many, of the computers on campus have Mathematica installed on them, so if I were to use Mathematica outside of class time, I would need to either have access to those computers, or to have access to Mathematica at home. I do not plan on buying the actual program, (I have not completely ruled that out though) but I have heard that they offer a trial version that lasts two weeks; if I start now this should give me time to familiarize myself with Mathematica before the semester starts, making that physics course a little bit easier. This raises a couple questions:

 

1. Is the windows version of Mathematica enough like the mac version that practicing with one can help me use the other?

 

2. Is it best to practice Mathematica BEFORE the semester starts, or to wait until the semester DOES start so that I will be able to practice it AFTER classes for the first couple of weeks? (Or to wait until the middle of the semester, or near the end of it, etc...)

[ajb]

I believe mathematica is (or just about) cross-platform. The notebooks themselves should be able to be run on any system.

 

If you can get hold of mathematica, then I suggest you have a good play about with it. Use the examples they provide. Have fun with it.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

If you're at a university, note that many offer bulk licensing deals so students can purchase a Mathematica license at a discount. I actually got mine free from our physics department.

 

Mathematica notebooks work the same way across platforms, as far as I know -- the commands and methods are the same.

[rewtedesco]

I'm using Mathematica under Ubuntu (linux) most recent version 10.04 - It works without a problem (I haven't tried it on other operating systems, but I think there isn't anything different).

Regarding question 2: Play with mathematica as soon as you can get your hands on it, and use the gazillions of demos on their site to learn more about using it properly.