IBM rose to CERN's Data Challenge

IBM has risen to a data management challenge presented by CERN,
the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. The challenge was set in
anticipation of the needs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Computing
Grid, the world's largest scientific computing grid. The LHC is expected to
produce 15 million Gigabytes of data per year, once it is operational in
2007. Collecting and storing those data will clearly be a mammoth task.

IBM put its "storage virtualisation" software to an internal read/write
storage test in which the computing needs of the LHC were simulated.
Using the IBM TotalStorage SAN File System, the internal tests
"shattered performance records", according to IBM, by reading and
writing data over 300,000 files, each 2GB in size to disk at rates in excess
of 1GByte/s for a total input/output of over 1 petabyte (1 million gigabytes)
in a 13-day period. The test also simulated a range of failure scenarios,
such as disconnected storage targets. The system proved robust throughout.

The IBM TotalStorage SAN File System is designed to provide scalable,
high-performance and highly available management of large amounts of
data using a single file namespace regardless of where or on what supported
operating system the data reside.

For more details visit CERN and IBM websites.

User Contributed Free Modules for Matlab/Mathematica/Maple

Matlab, Mathematica and Maple are not free softwares. But a great
advantage of using these commercial packages comes in the form of
user-contributed modules and other useful resources.

Wolfram's MathSource is a part of the Mathematica Information Centre.
It has over 750 Mathematica packages and programs categorised over
various sciences and sub-topics, like Applied Mathematics, Information
Science and Technology, Arts and Humanities, Mathematica Technology,
Business and Economics, Mathematics, Education, Engineering and even
Social Science.

Mathworks similarly have thousands of M-files in 'Matlab Central' for
various applications. If you are trying to write some complicated Matlab
script on your own, it is always a good idea to check Matlab Central.

Similarly, Maplesoft provides the Maple Application Centre likewise for
Maple applications.

YACAS & EULER: Computer Algebra Systems Similar to MATLAB

YACAS is an easy to use, general purpose Computer Algebra System, a
program for symbolic manipulation of mathematical expressions. It uses
its own programming language designed for symbolic as well as arbitrary
precision numerical computations. The system has a library of scripts that
implement many of the symbolic algebra operations; new algorithms can
be easily added to the library. YACAS comes with extensive documentation
(320+ pages) covering the scripting language, the functionality that is
already implemented in the system. Visit YACAS site for details and
download.

Euler version 2.06 is a powerful numerical laboratory with a programming
language. The system can handle real, complex and interval numbers,
vectors and matrices. It can produce 2D/3D plots. Euler comes with Yacas.
So one can combine symbolic and fast numeric programming. Here is
the site to download EULER .

All versions are freeware and open source under the GNU general license.
Some people call Euler another MatLab clone like Octave.
That is not entirely true but EULER is no doubt similar to Matlab.

"Project Mathematics" from Caltech

"Project Mathematics" provides fantastic videotape and workbook modules
and explores and explains basic topics in high school mathematics using live
action, music, special effects, and imaginative computer animation.

Tom M. Apostol, Emiratus Professor of Mathematics at California Institute
of Technology (Caltech) is the main architect behind this very successful effort.

The tapes (also available in PAL format) are distributed on a nonprofit basis.
Currently production of the DVD versions is underway.
For purchasing copies of these videos or for looking at previews on various
topics click on the website of Project Mathematics

'MuPAD' for Symbolic & Algebraic Computations

'MuPAD', a software for computer algebra system was developed at the
University of Paderton, Germany in mid-90s. Its aim was to incorporate
some unusual features on top of the usual numeric and symbolic
manipulations like user-definable data types, object-oriented
programming and accessible library code.

MuPAD performs symbolic and exact algebraic computations with almost
arbitrary accuracy. For example, the number of significant digits can be
chosen freely.

Since 1997, due to a budget crunch, MuPAD developers decided to set up
a commercial venture in order to safeguard the development efforts.
At present Sciface Software markets the professional version, MuPAD Pro.
The free versions, MuPAD Light for Windows and MuPAD 3.1.1 for Linux
are avialable for academic and individual non-commercial use.

The commercial versions can run in Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris
and some of those are available in English, Germany and Japanese
languages. Please check their site for details.

The free versions of MuPAD can be downloaded from here . MuPAD Light
for Windows is easy to install and trouble-free in operation. Unlike other
freewares available, MuPAD has the advantage of its close association with
its commercial branch, which really benefits their free users.