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Matt, I definitely agree with what Dave has said here. I have been using Mathematica for quite some time and find it relatively user friendly (although many of my students would disagree...relative is the operative word, though) with a great help system and a supportive community and beautiful graphics capabilities. Although, I know that many people say the same thing (more or less) about Matlab, and it often just comes down to personal preference (or which one got to you first). You should check with your Math Dept. and see if either one of them is already available at your university. I, like yourself, am not a computer programmer (I've never taken a programing course) nor a mathematician, but have been able to fumble my way through using Mathematica to the point where now I feel fairly comfortable using it. If you are interested, you could check out either Mookerjee & Mitra (2009) in JSG or Mookerjee & Mitra (2008) in Mathematical Geoscience to see an example of using Mathematica to model progressive three-dimensional strain. Also, Mookerjee & Nicklech (2011) has a series of strain-relevant Mathematica-based programs. Here's a link to the programs: http://www.sonoma.edu/users/m/mookerje/ProgramPage.htm it you want a taste of what programing in Mathematica could look like. With all of that said, I feel like you may be putting the cart before the horse a little bit here. If you don't know exactly what you are going to be modeling yet, it's pretty difficult to say which programs would be best for your purposes. For instance, it might turn out that a FEM would be most appropriate for what you want to model at which point we could stir you towards either some of the commercial or open source codes that are already available. So, I would suggest fleshing out exactly what you want to model first, and then ask again what programs would be best suited for that type of modeling. Those are my two cents (for what they are worth). Matty Mookerjee From: Tectonics & structural geology discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dave mc carthy Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 12:48 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Numerical Modeling Software Hi Matt, I've been using Mathematica throughout my PhD and as someone who's fumbling their way through applied maths I've been pretty impressed with it as a package. It is relatively easy to use, in that the commands are fairly intuitive, there is a huge help function, with the explanations of the majority of commands well explained and usually in understandable english and example code. Also there are a large number of forums where problems are discussed and existing code can be easily modified for a more specific purpose.And most importantly the visual output is really nice, 3D diagrams can be rotated or manipulated in most ways, most of the graphs produced usually look good enough for publication. There is a pretty decent but slightly dated book (in that some of the code doesn't work without adjustments for the newest version of Mathematica) for it's use in structural geology http://www.haneberg.com/Mathematica Also Dr Kieran Mulchrone might have some better advice than me on the topic http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/D019/kmulchrone Hope this helps, Dave On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 4:53 AM, Virginia Toy <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: I used a 'free' matlab equivalent (Scilab) as a PhD Student. It was fine, but in hindsight I wish I'd just found a way to get a Matlab licence at the outset and learned to use that - converting over was a hassle, and I find most people I interact with/trade scripts with use Matlab. V ------------------- Dr. Virginia Toy Department of Geology, University of Otago PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand Ph: + 64 3 479 7506<tel:%2B%2064%203%20479%207506> (wk), + 64 21 127 1012<tel:%2B%2064%2021%20127%201012> (NZ mob), +1 415 340 9065<tel:%2B1%20415%20340%209065> (USA mob) Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web: http://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/people/toy/index.html On 20/08/13 3:34 PM, Massey, Matthew A wrote: Hi All, I'm delving into the world of numerical modeling (mostly progressive deformation, at this point) and wanted a some advice. I had originally assumed that most structural geologists (and maybe most geologists?) use MATLAB or Octave, but after talking with several others, I've been informed this may not be entirely true. So before I begin, I'd like to get an idea of what most people really are using these days, and should a beginner start with something else? For the second part of that question, some things to keep in mind about myself: (1) I'm definitely not a programmer, nor a mathematician, but I think I can figure a lot of things out with some work; (2) at the moment, I plan on using this for modeling the evolution of finite strain magnitudes and orientations during 3D deformations, BUT I'm definitely interested in other future possibilities within the realms of structural geology, petrology, and geochronology. And one last follow up question - can you recommend some good instructional materials for said software (online tutorials, papers, published textbooks/manuals, etc.)? Thanks, Matt ___________________ Matthew A. Massey Department Earth & Environmental Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-053 -- Dave Mc Carthy B.Sc (Hons) Department of Geology, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, National University of Ireland, Cork. IRCSET Embark Award Holder [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> http://www.ucc.ie/en/bees/staff/researchstudents/dmccarthy/ 00353- (0)86-8846547 -- "The mountains are not my stadiums where I achieve my ambitions, they are my cathedrals, the houses of my religion." Anatoli Bourkreev- from "Above The Clouds"