Octave is a Matlab-like numerical package which is distributed under GNU General Public License rules. For matrix and linear algebra computations it is ideal.
Mathematica is mainly a symbolic algebra tool and is not free. I have not used it myself. Octave does not have a symbolic algebra component, so in that sense you can't compare it to Mathematica. Eric Richardson writes: > "Timothy J. Ford > > > > you should try octave, it's very good. > > > How does this compare to Mathematica? > > Eric :-) -- Professor Timothy J. Ford | Department of Mathematics | "Don't worry, Skipper, Florida Atlantic University | everything's in my hands!" Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991 | -- Gilligan