Problem 2: I keep having to change between systems to do my work.

Solution: Use one tightly integrated system.

No hopping from program to program

Mathematica is more than simply interactive mathematical software. You don't have to hop from a word processor to an equation editor to a calculator to a data-visualization system to a statistics package to a presentation program in order to get things done. Mathematica provides all of these capabilities and more in one environment.

Tight system integration saving time and hassle

One system lets you do your work and saves you the time you'd otherwise spend jumping from software to software or exporting, importing, and endlessly reformatting data.

Examples

Let's have Mathematica solve a differential equation and plot the solution. We want to solve the equation with the initial condition . We'll solve for in terms of .

Let's build a function solf using this solution.

Here's a numeric solution of :

Now, what does it take to get a plot of this curve? Just another command.