[Math] Best Math Plotting Software for Electrical Engineering

calculusmaplemathematicaMATLABmultivariable-calculus

I am an electrical engineering undergrad. I would like to learn a math plotting software which would be helpful in visualizing topics in advanced calculus (my immediate need). It would also be helpful if the math plotting software was of some use in electrical engineering, but this is not mandatory. The selection criteria is listed here in decreasing weight:

  1. Ease of Use (syntax and techniques that are intuitive and
    easy to adapt to other problem areas)
  2. Healthy ecosystem (lots of tutorials, examples online, books and
    other resources
  3. Industry use (looking for the most commonly used software suites
    within engineering and science)
  4. Adaptability (commonly used outside mathematics. ie. electrical
    engineering, modeling).

I have narrowed my search down to:

  1. Matlab
  2. Mathematica
  3. Maple

But this list is by no means exclusive. Currently I am leaning towards Matlab, because I have seen it being used in upper year courses in my electrical engineering program.

I would appreciate your input with regard to which software suite would be best and why. Thank you.

Best Answer

MATLAB's plotting tools are perfectly sufficient if used properly, although there is a learning curve. EE and controls/modeling folks use MATLAB heavily in industry. Plotting/visualization is of secondary importance. MATLAB is worth learning for its computational aspects and widespread use in EE fields. This is probably why you see it used in upper-division courses.

Related Question