Looking for math software to play around with?

Question

I am doing some research and I want to use software like Scilab or MATLAB to plug in values for a, for example, $2\times 2$ matrix and see how the linear combination of vectors' direction and magnitude are changed when different numbers (or eigenvalues, etc). are manipulated. However I tried scilab and it is extremely hard and I don't know how to write matrices in scilab. In fact, what is the best software to do this in?

I can quickly clarify any unclearances.

I FORGOT TO ADD I HAVE A MACBOOK.

Answer 1

IMHO you really could learn a lot from Mathematica, language is pretty simple and very connected to algebraic manipulations, also with very few knowledge of the language (even plain and simple English) you can do most of the computational stuff from calculus, linear algebra, complex analysis and discrete mathematics.

Answer 2

I would recommend Octave, its syntax is very similar to MATLAB and it is free.

Answer 3

I would recommend R. It is free, and very nice to do a lot of things with. Especially R Studio is recommended to use, the interface is one of the better ones I think.