>> The thing that's really bugging me now... So, I can get Mathematica 

>> This a very simple question: How the HELL do you use something like 
>> Mathematica "commercially"?!?!!
>>
>> It solves equations and draws graphs. I can't think of a single domain 
>> of commercial endevour where such a thing would actually be useful. I 
>> mean, who the hell does math as part of their day job?
> 
> Are you kidding me? In my former position, I was a programmer for 
> motion-control systems, much of which was very math heavy. Mathematica 
> could have been very useful for some of the things I worked on. I knew 
> one developer who would use it regularly to solve some of the problems 
> dealing with encoder counts and angular motion on 3 axes plus linear 
> motion on one or two axes.. It came in handy for figuring out how many 
> counts to send to the motors.

Surely that's all just arithmetic though? Once you know the mathematical 
formulas involved, it's a simple case of plugging the numbers in and 
getting the answers out. It's not like you're trying to derive an 
approximation to the Gamma function or anything...

>> About the closest thing I can think of is engineering; but they aren't 
>> going to use Mathematica, they're going to use a dedicated CAD system 
>> to do finite element simulations and so forth.
> 
> Yeah, our engineers use some fancy cad program to do a lot of what they 
> do, but some even fall back on pocket calculators and such...

That's just because sometimes a pocket calculator is the fastest way to 
quickly test something. ;-)

>> Mathematica is a wonderful toy, but I can't think of a single serious 
>> "use" for it.
> 
> Nonsense. It's a tool, just like a ruler, or a calculator.

In other news... when's the last time anybody used a ruler in their day job?

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