> We have Mathematica and have been very frustrated by it.
> We get error messages when trying to solve equations such as x 1 =
> 0. We've been told that is because only one solution is real so rather
> than give us the one real solution we get 'not a computer sized number'.
Sounds to me like you're confusing Mathematica's logical equality
operator "==" with its assignment operator "=". Mathematica solves
equations like x 1 = 0 very nicely when correctly asked to do so:
Solve[x 1 == 0, x]
However, if asked to
Solve[x 1 = 0, x]
Mathematica responds with error messages.
All computer languages distinguish between logical equality on the one
hand and assignment on the other; if this causes you trouble with
Mathematica, it will probably cause you trouble no matter what you use.
--Lou Talman