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Rating: 
Summary: Don't pay more than you'd pay for a paperback.
Review: First of all, it isn't a Mathematica package; it's a crippled version of Mathematica plus content organized as help files. If you're not a Mathematica user and don't intend to be, this will be a puzzling combination for you. If you ARE a Mathematica user, you'll be frustrated that you can't import the content and evaluate it in Mathematica; nor can you work in the Explorer, with standard functions and packages you're used to. Inevitably you'll want to EXPLORE something that these limitations makes impossible. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Mathematica - Lite, I suppose
Review: I don't own, and have never used Mathematica, the big (expensive) product from Wolfram Research. I put this particular product on my Wish List cause it looked kind of interesting. Turns out, that I guess this is really a scaled down version of Mathematica. Easy to imagine they wanted to be able to get a lower-end product out of the door to lure folks up to the big one.So, it's pretty cool. Calculated Pi up to 1000 decimal points or so, printed out a google so my kids could see it, etc. The only really irksome thing about this product, is they have this section called "Demos", which seems to a set of links to notebooks that you can run only with "real" Mathematica. They have a little parenthetical note at the beginning of every notebook in the Demo section that says something to the effect "You may not be able to run the calculations in this Notebook with the custom version of Mathematica that you have". Um ... duh! Why do I want to see this? It's really teasing, since there is no way I can afford the big product. To be positive, I'll call it advertising. But for $[amount] or whatever, I'd prefer the advertising to be the slick flyers inserted in my product box only, not something in my face all the time. Of course, I think I can probably figure out how to get rid of it also; Mathematica seems to be fairly extensible. Also on the negative, the usability is lacking. The odd syntax I can deal with; the weird keystroking, and the lack of things I just expect to work (like scrolling a text area with a mouse wheel) are the kind of things that bug me to no end. But, in the end, for me, a math- and computer-geek, this is a cool toy.
Rating:
Summary: Mathematica - Lite, I suppose
Review: I don't own, and have never used Mathematica, the big (expensive) product from Wolfram Research. I put this particular product on my Wish List cause it looked kind of interesting. Turns out, that I guess this is really a scaled down version of Mathematica. Easy to imagine they wanted to be able to get a lower-end product out of the door to lure folks up to the big one. So, it's pretty cool. Calculated Pi up to 1000 decimal points or so, printed out a google so my kids could see it, etc. The only really irksome thing about this product, is they have this section called "Demos", which seems to a set of links to notebooks that you can run only with "real" Mathematica. They have a little parenthetical note at the beginning of every notebook in the Demo section that says something to the effect "You may not be able to run the calculations in this Notebook with the custom version of Mathematica that you have". Um ... duh! Why do I want to see this? It's really teasing, since there is no way I can afford the big product. To be positive, I'll call it advertising. But for $[amount] or whatever, I'd prefer the advertising to be the slick flyers inserted in my product box only, not something in my face all the time. Of course, I think I can probably figure out how to get rid of it also; Mathematica seems to be fairly extensible. Also on the negative, the usability is lacking. The odd syntax I can deal with; the weird keystroking, and the lack of things I just expect to work (like scrolling a text area with a mouse wheel) are the kind of things that bug me to no end. But, in the end, for me, a math- and computer-geek, this is a cool toy.
Rating: 
Summary: useful and fun
Review: The 'flagship' product of Wolfram is Mathematica a large and very expensive program. That program is built on the programming language 'Mathematica' a system where individual 'code words' are 'combined' into commands which can then be used to compute answers for some of the most baffling questions in the mathematical realm. Mathematical Explorer incorporates most of the 'power' of that program but s much more 'user friendly' and offers a 'limited' set of graphical formatting options and graphical commands The 'package' may be viewed in two parts. There is a set of 'guided explorations'. Quite frankly I read these only to find out the 'built in' commands ... as ... Range[] ... that is built in ' shortcuts' [Schamn's publishes a neat, cheap book called Mathematica which will bring you up to speed on the other commands used.] The second part of this program is a format able, printable 'worksheet'. Here, by use of the 'Mathematica' language you can simply shred homework. It has been commented, only half in jest, that 'calculus' may not survive Mathematica. Summing up: Not a 'toy' but a maths program which will overwhelm almost any mathematical task. While it does not produce 'step by step' answers there a very few things this package cannot do. On the Mac side where I am there have not been many large maths programs which are not priced, 'the moon' and of those this is, by far, the best.
Rating:
Summary: useful and fun
Review: The `flagship' product of Wolfram is Mathematica a large and very expensive program. That program is built on the programming language `Mathematica' a system where individual `code words' are `combined' into commands which can then be used to compute answers for some of the most baffling questions in the mathematical realm. Mathematical Explorer incorporates most of the `power' of that program but s much more `user friendly' and offers a `limited' set of graphical formatting options and graphical commands The `package' may be viewed in two parts. There is a set of `guided explorations'. Quite frankly I read these only to find out the `built in' commands ... as ... Range[] ... that is built in ` shortcuts' [Schamn's publishes a neat, cheap book called Mathematica which will bring you up to speed on the other commands used.] The second part of this program is a format able, printable `worksheet'. Here, by use of the `Mathematica' language you can simply shred homework. It has been commented, only half in jest, that `calculus' may not survive Mathematica. Summing up: Not a `toy' but a maths program which will overwhelm almost any mathematical task. While it does not produce `step by step' answers there a very few things this package cannot do. On the Mac side where I am there have not been many large maths programs which are not priced, 'the moon' and of those this is, by far, the best.
Rating:
Summary: Really quite good
Review: There are two sides to this product. The first an electronic "book" on mathematics by Stan Wagon, and the second is the system in which that book is presented which is basically a "lite" version of the <very expensive> Mathematica package. Stan Wagon writes probably the most interesting and useful books on using the Mathematica system. Here he has collected what amounts to a "best of" list of topics that will be enlightening to anyone interested in the study of mathematics. Topics range from prime numbers, to calculus, to how to stack overhanging dominoes and many others. The book is presented in Mathematica's help-browser format which allows you you navigate through the sections and all the expressions presented are "live" in that you can edit them and re-evaluate them using the built-in Mathematica system. Besides the fascinating and well-presented material that makes up the primary content of this title, you you also get a somewhat limited version of Mathematica 4.0.2 using the same "notebook" interface as the full Mathematica product. This differs from the professional and student versions of Mathematica by only including a limeted number of the functions available in the full product, but the functions included include all the core features and a typical Mathematica user might go for quite a while before noticing that anything is missing. This version also lacks the irritating node-locked copy protection of the student version (though the license only permits installation on a single system, it is at least fully transferrable). At about half the cost of the student version of Mathematica this package is more than worth its price for either the version of Mathematica it includes *or* Stan Wagon's excellent mathematical content. Highly recommended. G.
Rating:
Summary: Really quite good
Review: There are two sides to this product. The first an electronic "book" on mathematics by Stan Wagon, and the second is the system in which that book is presented which is basically a "lite" version of the Mathematica package.Stan Wagon writes probably the most interesting and useful books on using the Mathematica system. Here he has collected what amounts to a "best of" list of topics that will be enlightening to anyone interested in the study of mathematics. Topics range from prime numbers, to calculus, to how to stack overhanging dominoes and many others. The book is presented in Mathematica's help-browser format which allows you you navigate through the sections and all the expressions presented are "live" in that you can edit them and re-evaluate them using the built-in Mathematica system. Besides the fascinating and well-presented material that makes up the primary content of this title, you you also get a somewhat limited version of Mathematica 4.0.2 using the same "notebook" interface as the full Mathematica product. This differs from the professional and student versions of Mathematica by only including a limeted number of the functions available in the full product, but the functions included include all the core features and a typical Mathematica user might go for quite a while before noticing that anything is missing. This version also lacks the irritating node-locked copy protection of the student version (though the license only permits installation on a single system, it is at least fully transferrable). At about half the cost of the student version of Mathematica this package is more than worth its price for either the version of Mathematica it includes *or* Stan Wagon's excellent mathematical content. Highly recommended. G.
Rating:
Summary: Really quite good
Review: There are two sides to this product. The first an electronic "book" on mathematics by Stan Wagon, and the second is the system in which that book is presented which is basically a "lite" version of the <very expensive> Mathematica package. Stan Wagon writes probably the most interesting and useful books on using the Mathematica system. Here he has collected what amounts to a "best of" list of topics that will be enlightening to anyone interested in the study of mathematics. Topics range from prime numbers, to calculus, to how to stack overhanging dominoes and many others. The book is presented in Mathematica's help-browser format which allows you you navigate through the sections and all the expressions presented are "live" in that you can edit them and re-evaluate them using the built-in Mathematica system. Besides the fascinating and well-presented material that makes up the primary content of this title, you you also get a somewhat limited version of Mathematica 4.0.2 using the same "notebook" interface as the full Mathematica product. This differs from the professional and student versions of Mathematica by only including a limeted number of the functions available in the full product, but the functions included include all the core features and a typical Mathematica user might go for quite a while before noticing that anything is missing. This version also lacks the irritating node-locked copy protection of the student version (though the license only permits installation on a single system, it is at least fully transferrable). At about half the cost of the student version of Mathematica this package is more than worth its price for either the version of Mathematica it includes *or* Stan Wagon's excellent mathematical content. Highly recommended. G.
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