If you're scientific or mathematical work involves highly complex linear and non linear problem solving, then you may find that Octave provides the power you've been looking for.

Octave is a high-level language developed by the open source community which functions simply by providing a command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear numeric problems. For those that are familiar with Matlab, they will have few problems picking up Octave because it works in conjunction with the former language.

The program basically features several very powerful tools for solving the kind of linear algebra equations that would send shivers down the spine of even the most experienced mathematician. According to the developers, it also includes functions for manipulating polynomials and integrating differential and differential-algebraic equations if you know what those are in the first place! The one bonus for those familiar with other languages is that Octave can also be extended or used in conjunction with modules written in C++, C, Fortran and others.

This is an extremely complex language that only those familiar with Matlab or Fortran will pick up quickly. Anyone else should be prepared to put a lot of hours in although the problem solving skills it will provide you with seem virtually limitless.

Download Octave 3.0.1 in Softonic

Fractals have always been fascinating for their characteristic of never ending and rebuilding themselves each time you zoom in on them. It’s a never ending journey and a never ending world. With Fraqtive you can play with fractals, creating and editing their parameters, changing tones and shades.

If you are a mathematician you will probably understand what all the parameters stand for and what you can obtain by changing the X and Y values, the zoom factor and the rotation angle. If you are just curious like me, change the settings and see what happens. I managed to create a perfect pink rectangle which doesn’t really look like a fascinating fractal!

There is also a 3D rendering feature which is very nice, you can rotate it with the mouse and zoom in and out. Unfortunately, unlike the 2D rendering where you can zoom in infinitely times, in the 3D mode, you only have a section of your fractal to play with, but it doesn’t recalculate itself if you try to enlarge the image.

Fraqtive allows you to create your personalized fractals. The full screen mode lets you immerse fully in this psychedelic world and take screenshots for your mathematical studies or, more commonly, for beautiful wallpapers.

Download Fraqtive 4.3.4 in Softonic

OpenStat is a powerful and free statistical package that was originally written to help in social science research.

Nowadays OpenStat has been expanded to handle all kinds of data, although the developer itself admits that it's not the "finished product" yet. This means that any results you gain from it, can't be guaranteed and should be double checked either by hand or using other software.

OpenStat, rather than just present data in graph form, attempts to test and display data in one go, meaning it cuts out the need for a separate research package. It looks remarkably simple and generally, it is easy to use but it's actually quite a complex package, able to handle all kinds of algorithms and parameters that you define. However, the developer could have put more effort into making both the interface and graphs look better. In addition, according to the forum it does have problems handling certain formulas but this is probably because it's not the finished article yet.

OpenStat is a simple to use but powerful statistical analysis and graphical display package that can handle most of what you throw at it.

Download OpenStat 11.9.08 in Softonic

If you're a biomedical student or serious scientists then you'll have to perform some pretty complex linear and non linear calculations.

R is an attempt to provide a wide variety of statistical analysing - namely linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering methods and graphical techniques. The developers have chosen the S language as what they call the "vehicle of choice" for research in statistical methodology. The main strength of the program is that it can produce high quality, well defined plots including mathematical symbols and formulae. The aim has been to put control in the hands of the user although it has to be said, the user needs to know exactly what they are doing with such complex tools to get any real benefit out of it other than drawing pretty graphs. Since it's open source however, it's very open to customisation by it's users so if there's something you don't like, you can access the source code easily.

A very professional analytical tool that's strictly for experienced or Phd level scientists - beginners stay well away.

Download R-project 2.6.2 in Softonic

If you're a serious mathematician or studying advanced mathematics or physics, then Math Mechanixs will be of much interest to you. It is not a training aid or a spreadsheet program - rather it works using a Math Editor (as opposed to a Text Editor) allowing you to type the mathematical expressions similar to the way you would write them on a piece of paper.

The software uses a multiple document interface so that you can work on multiple solutions simultaneously. There is a fully featured scientific calculator which includes a very useful integrated variables and functions list window so that you can easily track defined variables and functions.

Particularly for those that have to produce mathematical presentations, Math Mechanics enables you to produce some very impressive 2D and 3D diagrams. The graphing utility allows you to label data points, as well as zoom, rotate and translate the graph. This can seem daunting at first but fortunately there are several tutorials available that will guide you through it.

This a powerful and versatile mathematical software that anyone working on mathematical projects will find useful.

Download Math Mechanixs 1.2.0.2 in Softonic

Math Games line of software attempts to help those teachers and parents who want to make math education more fun and exciting. This software is by no means a complete solution to math literacy, but it can be used as a valuable supplement to teacher instruction and other computer teaching tools.

Math Games Level 1 teaches addition and multiplication with numbers from 1 to 12. Using the mouse to move the game's sliders, a student can select the values to calculate. Then, he or she simply clicks on the "Ask Me" button and lets the friendly robot do the calculation and report the result.

The game is guaranteed to engage students’ attention while teaching them the fundamentals of math. We believe that this game is particularly valuable because it combines education and fun. The game window can be resized or maximized to make it even more exciting for those young children just learning how to use the computer.

Download Math Games Level 1 1.0 in Softonic

Graph is an open source application used to draw mathematical graphs in a coordinate system. Anyone who wants to draw graphs of functions will find this program useful. The program makes it very easy to visualize a function and paste it into another program. It is also possible to do some mathematical calculations on the functions.

Draw functions

Graph can draw normal functions, parameter functions, and polar functions. You can use a lot of built-in functions, e.g. sin, cos, log, etc. You may specify color, width and line style of the graphs, and the graphs may me limited to an interval. It is also possible to show a circle at the ends indicating open or closed interval.

Interact with other programs

You can save the coordinate system with graphs as an image on disk either as a bitmap (bmp), Potable Network Graphics (png) or metafile (emf). You may also copy the coordinate system into another program, e.g. Microsoft Word, either as a normal image or as an OLE object, which may be edited later by double clicking on it.

A lot of options

While still easy to use Graph has a lot of customization possibilities, e.g. fonts, colors, axes style, grids, etc. The axes, which may by normal or logarithmic, can be placed either by entering specific values, or by moving or zooming with the mouse.

Evaluate

Given an x-coordinate Graph will calculate the function value and the first two derivatives for any given function. Alternatively the function may be traced with the mouse. Graph can also fill a table with evaluated function coordinates in a user specified range. Data from the table can easily be copied into another program, e.g. Excel.

Calculate

Graph can help you calculate the area under a function in a given interval and the distance along the curve between two points on the function. The program can also show the first derivative of a function, and create tangents and normal lines to a function at given coordinates.

Point series and trendlines

You can create series of points with different markers, colors and size. Data for a point series can be imported from other programs, e.g. Microsoft Excel. It is possible to create a line of best fit from the data in a point series, either from one of the built-in models or from a user specified model.

Shadings and labels

Graph can insert shadings used to mark an area related to a function. Shadings may be created with different styles and colors in a user specified interval. In addition to the optional legend used to describe each function, a label may be added anywhere in the system. A label can contain text with different fonts, images and objects created in other programs.

Download Graph 4.2 in Softonic

AcaStat simplifies statistical analyses and quickly produces summary reports that can be printed, saved, or exported to Microsoft Word, Excel, or any other word processor or spreadsheet. Create, import data files, or import data copied from spreadsheets or data tables to develop crosstabulations, descriptive statistics, and significance tests.

Unlike most other statistical packages, AcaStat also includes a summary statistics module that uses means, counts, and proportions to create and interpret confidence intervals and statistical tests. Free to try. Inexpensive to upgrade to the Licensed Edition.

Download AcaStat 5.2.1 in Softonic

Brain Tease II was developed to help you have fun while exercising your brain. This application helps you improve your focus and concentration skills and is appropriate for all ages. Sound is supported. You can turn sound on/off from the menu bar. High scores and settings for sound and difficulty level are saved between sessions.

Download Brain Tease II 2.0.0 in Softonic

There are Four sections to choose from; Circle, Area, Surface Area and Volume. For the calculations used in this program "Pi" has been rounded off to 10 decimal places.

Calculates and converts for area of triangles, trapezoids, circles and the surface area and volume of cubes, pyramids, cones, prisms, cylinders and spheres. There is also the option of converting the calculations to various units of metric and imperial measurements. Also there is a decimal imperial window to convert your values from and to decimal yards, feet, inches and fraction values to yards, feet, inches and fractions. Pick the area you need, put in the numbers then it is automatically done.

Download Geometry Calculator 1.2 in Softonic

Nowadays, most people use PowerPoint to create presentations and graphs for statistical data.

However, sometimes PowerPoint is not enough to give you the full control over statistical data that you need, especially if you need to create complex charts. In addition, it's expensive, as it comes as part of Office but this package is totally free.

The main purpose of TeeChart-Office is to allow you to easily create both basic and complex charts while linking them to the original data. In a few clicks, you can modify and change the chart appearance (for instance from pie chart to bar chart), export charts to their native format, insert image files, print them, share them with others and lots more.

The program offers 17 main chart types with a huge number of customisations options. You can just about anything from labeling your charts to inserting complex mathematical formulas. Some of the more advanced plotting features are only available if you upgrade to the Pro version although you won't need these unless you are designing scientific graphs. You can also easily export graphs and images to another format using a simple wizard.

The look of TeeChart-Office is not exactly great - it looks rather blocky and basic compared to PowerPoint but it's incredibly powerful, customizable and best of all, free.

Download TeeChart Office 3.00 in Softonic

Although kids love to play games, sometimes your PC can also be your best friend in educating them. Kid's Abacus 2.0 is a free mathematical application designed to allow younger users to count from 1 to 100.

The developers claims that the Maths Worksheets have been designed for ease of use, fast setup and interactivity. There are plenty of audio-visual and multimedia features built-in to help users learn the basics of counting.

This is very much aimed at young learners though. There's nothing beyond counting possible here and it's a shame the developers didn't add a few more simple mathematical challenges to stretch young users. On the plus side, it's great for pronunciation (in English) because it features a realistic speech synthesizer.

Download Kids Abacus 2.0 in Softonic

Having trouble with your maths homework or have some serious mathematical equations to solve? Eular Equation Solver is a powerful mathematical tool, small and simple designed to help you solve mathematical eular equations.

I'm no maths wiz so I really wish I'd had this when I was in algebra class. Simply fill in the required fields with the hardest equations you can think of, click "Calculate" and it not only gives you the solution but also reveals a graphical representation of the result. The program has several fields - the equation itself, the values delta, the X values and the initial values of X and Y etc.

The program also doesn't require any installing or unzipping - just download it and the .exe file runs it immediately. A very powerful tool for cheaters and professionals alike.

Download Eular Equation Solver 1.0 in Softonic

Have fun learning fractions and check fractions homework easily. The graphics (fraction pies) help those new to fractions visualize the concepts. Version 2 is not quite as wacky as it's predecessor but is just as easy to use. Click on any blank area to choose your own customized color.

Download Wacky Fraction Calculator 2 in Softonic

Math Practice was developed to help you practice math (arithmetic, simple algebra and roman numerals) skills. Each skill (add, subtract, multiply, divide, algebra and roman numerals) has three skill levels (easy, medium and hard). The algebra problems are to solve for x. Select the desired skill and the skill level.

A new problem will be displayed. Type the answer into the field provided and click on the "Enter" key (or press Enter/Return). If you are correct, you will see "Correct" displayed, and the Correct score will be incremented. If you are not correct, you will see "Incorrect" displayed, the correct answer will be displayed and the Incorrect score will be incremented. Click on the "New Problem" button to get a new problem. If your answer is correct, the "New Problem" button will be pressed for you automatically after a few seconds. The % displayed is your overall score in percentage. Clicking on the "Reset" button resets all scores.

Sound is supported. When you have ten correct answers you will hear applause. Sound can be turned on/off. Settings for sound, skill, and skill level are saved between sessions.

Download Math Practice 3.0.1 in Softonic

Do you solve equations and plot graphs often? Then you know it's not easy to discover equation roots. Fortunately, you can now finish your Math homework or your engineering projects faster if you use DeadLine, a simple yet powerful equation solver. Your results will be precise, trustworthy and ready to use.

DeadLine is an educational software that will help you solve equations and plot graphs. Designed especially for students and engineers, the freeware combines graph plotting with advanced numerical Calculus, in a very intuitive approach. Most equations are supported, including algebraic equations, trigonometric equations, and exponential equations.

DeadLine includes a very fast engine that performs Math calculations. You can complete any task almost instantly, even on older systems.

You'll be able to:

• Solve equations numerically
• Plot graphs interactively
• Use an easy-to-use scientific calculator
• Derive functions and evaluate derivatives
• Solve optimization problems: find local extrema
• Integrate functions numerically
• Obtain an in-depth analysis of a function
• Save results: equations, graphs, roots and extrema
• Solve Calculus assignments in your own language

Download DeadLine 2.31.965 in Softonic

Need just the Facts? The free Basic Facts Worksheet Factory can generate worksheets that will provide students with the practice they need to become proficient in the basic math operations. You can easily create unlimited customized worksheets for the practice of arithmetic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

It's incredibly easy to use with a very friendly interface that lets you see exactly what your worksheet will look like as you design it. Print your first worksheet within a minute even the first time you use the program. You can create worksheets with as many questions as you wish from 1 to 100 and lay them out in either a horizontal or a vertical format. Then customize the worksheet by changing the picture, header, font, and riddle or quotation. For easy marking, Basic Facts Worksheet Factory will automatically print an answer key that looks just like the worksheet, but with the answers.

Download Basic Facts Worksheet Factory 3.0.0055 in Softonic

Calcualtor Prompter has a built-in error recognition system that helps you get correct results. With Calculator Prompter you can enter the whole expression, including brackets, and operators. You can use Calculator to perform any of the standard operations for which you would normally use a handheld calculator. Calculator performs arithmetic, such as root (#) and power (^).

Download Calculator Prompter 2.2 in Softonic