The Majestic Sea Creature
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    Maxima is beautiful

    I just indirectly stumbled across the computer algebra system Maxima. It appears to be extremely well documented, clisp based, and reeking of awesomeness. Here are just a couple examples from the beginning of the manual.

    Basics:

    (%i1) factor(10!);                            8  4  2(%o1)                      2  3  5  7(%i2) expand ((x + y)^6);       6        5       2  4       3  3       4  2      5      6(%o2) y  + 6 x y  + 15 x  y  + 20 x  y  + 15 x  y  + 6 x  y + x(%i3) factor (x^6 - 1);                              2            2(%o3)       (x - 1) (x + 1) (x  - x + 1) (x  + x + 1)
    Integration and Differentiation:

    (%i1) u: expand ((x + y)^6);       6        5       2  4       3  3       4  2      5      6(%o1) y  + 6 x y  + 15 x  y  + 20 x  y  + 15 x  y  + 6 x  y + x(%i2) diff (%, x);         5         4       2  3       3  2       4        5(%o2) 6 y  + 30 x y  + 60 x  y  + 60 x  y  + 30 x  y + 6 x(%i3) integrate (1/(1 + x^3), x);                                  2 x - 1                2            atan(-------)           log(x  - x + 1)        sqrt(3)    log(x + 1)(%o3)    - --------------- + ------------- + ----------                    6             sqrt(3)          3

    Linear and Cubic Equation Solving:

    (%i1) linsolve ([3*x + 4*y = 7, 2*x + a*y = 13], [x, y]);                        7 a - 52        25(%o1)              [x = --------, y = -------]                        3 a - 8       3 a - 8(%i2) solve (x^3 - 3*x^2 + 5*x = 15, x);(%o2)       [x = - sqrt(5) %i, x = sqrt(5) %i, x = 3]
    Non-linear Systems of Equations:
    (%i1) eq_1: x^2 + 3*x*y + y^2 = 0$(%i2) eq_2: 3*x + y = 1$(%i3) solve ([eq_1, eq_2]);              3 sqrt(5) + 7      sqrt(5) + 3(%o3) [[y = - -------------, x = -----------],                    2                 2                            3 sqrt(5) - 7        sqrt(5) - 3                       [y = -------------, x = - -----------]]                                  2                   2
    It also does 2d and 3d equation plotting via gnuplot. This gives me an excuse to get back into reading "God Created The Integers" and also encourages me to crack open my new issue of Mathematics Magazine.

    Of course, I could also spend time on other things, like seeing friends and going outside, but who needs that! ;)

    • 24 June 2007
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  • majestic @seacreature

    Hello, my name is Gregory Brown. I am the founder of Mendicant University, a free online school for software developers.

    I am passionate about community service, education, and the free software movement. If you're interested in getting to know me a bit better, feel free to send me an email: gregory.t.brown@gmail.com

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