Maxima is a computer program for doing mathematics calculations, symbolic manipulations, numerical computations and graphics. Procedures can be programmed and then run by Maxima to do complex tasks. Much of the syntax for other languages such as Maple was copied from Maxima.
The Help menu in Xmaxima gives you access to the following documents:
To do basic operations, a line is typed, followed by a
semicolon, and then entered. This can be done in the window above.
Alternately you may edit the blue portions in this buffer, and click
on them, to see the result evaluated above and/or inserted in
this window, depending on what was specified in the html source for this
file.
For example clicking below
Here are some examples from basic calculus. To have Maxima evaluate the derivative of the function below, click on this line.
Maxima can calculate indefinite integrals.
Maxima can perform calculations to arbitrary precision. The following example computes Pi to one hundred decimal places.
Maxima can solve equations. Click this line to solve the system.
For example, matrices can be entered and manipulated. Click these two lines.
The matrices can then be added, for example:
Maxima can solve ordinary differential equations analytically and numerically. Click the following line for an example of an analytic solution.
The standard form is
Local variables:
The block construct lets us introduce local variables, and also lets us have a sequence of statements:
block([v1:val1,v2:val2,v3,v4:val4],stmt1,stmt2,... stmtn)the value is the value of the last statement. During the execution the variables v1,v2,... will have the values indicated. If no value is given for v3 then it will just evaluate to itself:
Thus if we set v3 globally to be 7,
2 (y + 2) + 25
2 2 [(y + 2) + 37, (y + 2) + 26]
a for loop always returns 'done as its value. To get the value you want add the w.