Maxima

center|200px|Maxima logo Maxima is an open-source application that is in the category of computer algebra systems - CAS. However, it is important to recognize that the word "algebra" in this context should not be interpreted in a narrow sense of a mathematical topic of study and application. In the context of Maxima "algebra" should be interpreted in a broader sense of symbolic mathematics including what is conventionally meant by the use of algebra as a mathematical area of study and application. Maxima is not merely another programming language. It is a primarily an interactive special-purpose computer application for composing and operating on mathematical expressions of various kinds. However, within that special category there is a sense in which it is general-purpose in that there is no emphasis on some particular goal or task such as numerical computations. While Maxima has significant numerical computational features, if the primary area of study or application involves merely "number crunching" then Maxima may or may not be the best choice. In these cases, other open-source software such as Julia, R, Octave, or Python as examples, may be better suited in terms of what is necessary to accomplish the task of interest. If you are a teacher, student or someone involved in some specific field of mathematical investigation or application, then it is likely that you will find that Maxima is a tool of great interest and applicability. This book is not intended to be of a tutorial nature on one hand or a comprehensive Maxima user manual on the other hand. It is also not intended to be a reference manual. It is intended to help new and current users get familiar with using Maxima. This book shows how to get familiar with using Maxima. Maxima can be used for: Symbolic mathematics and numerical computations Plotting 2D and 3D Much more Table of Contents What is Maxima and what is it useful for /Methods of use/ /Installation/ Introduction By Example Getting Started Using Maxima Identifiers /Operators/ /Data types/ Properties Programming /Numbers/ /Functions/ /Debugging/ /Data structures/ /Numerical methods/ /Algorithms/ /Plots/ /Outputs and warnings/ /Example programs/ Weaknesses of math software /Help/ See also Images with Maxima CAS source code syntax highlight for Gedit syntax highlight for KDE questions tagged Maxima on stackoverflow Maxima (software) References Chaotic dynamics with Maxima A. Morante and J. A. Vallejo M Scientific software Open source software 25% pl:Maxima ja:Maxima