Math softwares

Reading through Digg, I came across this real good article which talked about the various math tools available free online. It starts of with three free softwares and the readers have added many new and good ones in the comments. So thought of collecting them into a single post.
Courtesy: 3 awesome free math programs by antonio
Well Known Softwares, like the

• Mathematica - a complete package for mathematics from a small calculator to a system simulator
• Matlab - personally the only software I have used and benefited from. Similar, but is more on the engineering side rather than math
• Maple - I used this for fun. To try and visualize various plots and formulas. Can be used as we do math on a notebook.
  

Know is the fact that these are not free and for research and educational purposes they are pretty costly. So there are a list of alternatives which are free (Long Live The Open Source)

• Maxima - It is a Computer Algebra System (CAS) similar to Maple. A CAS is a system which is able to perform symbolic manipulation for the resolution of common problems.
  
• Axiom
• Sage
• Yacas
• SciLab - The free replacement for Matlab. It is a good plotting and visualization tool
  
• Octave - from the linux group
• Euler - uses yacas
• R - Yes thats it. That is the name of the software. When there is 'C' why can't there be a 'R'. Anyway, For statistical computing and analysis in the Open Source world nothing can get better than R. It is similar to the commercial S-plus
  

The above were the ones discussed by the author and the following would be the once I picked from the comments. Where there is a community there is a solution ;)

• Scipy - Scientific Programming using Python. Provides many user-friendly and efficient numerical routines such as routines for numerical integration and optimization.
• newt - this is read as (Eta Epsilon Omega Tau). This says to be a demo version used for plotting funcitons
• Geogebra - GeoGebra is a free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for schools that joins geometry, algebra and calculus.
• FreeMat - free environment for rapid engineering and scientific prototyping and data processing. It is similar to commercial systems such as MATLAB from Mathworks, and IDL from Research Systems, but is Open Source
• GAP - does not seem impressive. A user comment "for real mathematics, there’s GAP, which allows you to manipulate groups, permutations, graphs, rewriting systems, Lie algebras, etc, using a Python-like language. Lots of standard algorithms for computational algebra are implemented in the standard library."
• Math Code Snippets - Codes that can be re-used. User comment "For several–specific–numerical mathematical routines. The routines posted off this page are based on good-quality code, mostly from the NETLIB repository of algorithms. Very handy (quick, easy-to-use, and free!) for when numbers are required, but a user might not want to install and start up a whole software package."
• Grace - Plotting tool. Stands for "GRaphing, Advanced Computation and Exploration of data."
• ChartAll - The name says it all. A web utility to chat and plot information
• TEECHART OFFICE - Another charting tool.

Hope these are useful.

Some Good Firefox Add-Ons and Extensions

Basic:

• Adblock and Adblock Filterset.G Update - Makes your browsing experience really good by hiding the ads.
• Download Statusbar - Minimize the huge download status window into a small icon in your browser windows
• Download ThemAll, Flashget, Free Download Manager Plugin - A good download manager and accelerator
• Google Notebook - allows you to make notes of things you read in google notebooks
• TamilKey - Allows you to type in tamil
• Videodownloader - helps u in downloading the FLV video(flash files) embedded in the HTML pages of google videos, you tube, etc

Tab Effects and Manipulations:

• Tab Mix Plus - Allows u to store and restore sessions (integrated with the recent mozilla browser)
• Tab Effect - Gives you the apple type cube rotation effect when u switch between tabs
• Tab Scope - Gives a preview of the currently opened tab when u move the mouse over the tab. you can scroll, move forward and backward in the preview window
• Mouse Gestures - Removes the use of keyboard for browsing. Move you move to make certain drawings and you would be able to open, close, switch minimize etc the tabs and windows. Funky add on
• Firefox Showcase - Shows the preview of all opened tabs and helps u find the required tab
  

Theme:

• Noia 2.0 - This is the current theme I love to have
  

20 Free Application To Increase Productivity

1. Launchy - free program launcher
2. AutoHotKey - automate just about anything by capturing your keystrokes and mouse clicks
3. AVG Anti Virus
   
4. Spybot Search And Destroy - anti spyware
5. Ad-Aware
   
6. Free Download Manager
7. BK ReplaceEm - powerful search and replace utilities, allowing you to operate on multiple files at once.
8. Google Web Accelerator - allow you to enjoy faster web browsing in seconds
9. CamStudio - recording software that will allow you to create demonstration videos, online tutorials, or even video-based information products
10. Audacity - software for recording and editing sounds. You can use Audacity to record live audio, edit sound files, mix sounds together, and much more
11. Foxit PDF Reader - fast PDF reader convertor etc
12. 7-zip - file compressor
13. CCleaner - removes unused files from your system, freeing up valuable hard disk space.
14. Openoffice.org - a replacement for Microsoft's Office Suite
15. Better Gmail -To enhance your Gmail for optimum productivity, then you will need to download the Better Gmail Firefox extension.
16. FileZilla - fast reliable FTP client
17. RoboForm - password manager and web form filler that will allow you to browse the Web faster than ever

I found only 17 to be useful. :) . Courtesy: Top 20 Free Applications to Increase Your Productivity