NAME
mathomatic - a computer algebra system
rmath - a computer algebra system with functions
SYNOPSIS
mathomatic [ -bchqrtuvwx ] [ -s level ] [ -m number ] [ input_files ]
rmath [ input_files ]
DESCRIPTION
Mathomatic is a portable Computer Algebra System (CAS) that can solve,
simplify, combine, and compare algebraic equations, perform general
complex number and polynomial arithmetic, etc. It does some calculus
and handles all elementary algebra, except logarithms. Plotting
expressions with gnuplot is also supported.
mathomatic is the main Mathomatic application that does interactive
symbolic-numeric mathematics through a console interface. The
numerical arithmetic is double precision floating point with up to 14
decimal digits accuracy. Many results will be exact, because multiple
combined floating point numbers can be used for a single mathematical
value; for example: 2^(1/3), which is the cubed root of 2 exactly.
rmath allows you to use Mathomatic with input of functions like sin(x)
and sqrt(x) automatically expanded to equivalent algebraic expressions
by the m4 macro processor.
OPTIONS
-b Enable bold colors. Color mode will be turned on and colors
will be brighter if this option is specified. Same as the "set
bold color" command.
-c Toggle color mode. This mode outputs ANSI terminal escape
sequences to make each level of parentheses a different color,
for easier reading. Requires a terminal emulator that supports
ANSI color escape sequences. If the colors are too hard to see,
use the -b option to increase the brightness.
-h Display a brief help message listing all of these options and
then exit.
-m number
Change the memory size of equation spaces. It is followed by a
decimal floating point number which is a multiplier of the
default equation space size. This allows larger equation spaces
so that manipulating extremely large expressions will succeed
without getting the "Expression too large" error. Specifying a
number higher than 100 may make Mathomatic unresponsive.
-q Set quiet mode. The startup message and prompts are not
displayed. This is useful when piping or redirecting input into
Mathomatic, because the input won’t be displayed, so prompt
output should be turned off. This option does the same thing as
the "set no prompt" command.
-r Disable readline input processing. Readline allows using the
cursor keys and outputs terminal control codes which can be
turned off with this option.
-s level
Set the enforced security level for the Mathomatic session.
Level 0 is the default with no security. Level 1 disallows
shelling out. Level 2 disallows shelling out and writing files.
Level 3 disallows shelling out and reading/writing files for
complete security. This run-time option was created for use on
open public servers that can’t use the SECURE compile-time
define.
-t Set test mode. Used when testing and comparing output.
Bypasses loading startup file, turns off color mode and
readline, sets wide output mode, ignores pause command, etc.
-u Guarantee that standard output and standard error output are
unbuffered. Useful when piping.
-v Display version number, compilation options used, maximum
possible memory usage, then exit.
-w Set wide output mode for an unlimited width output device like
the "set wide" command does. Sets infinite screen columns and
rows so that 2D (two dimensional) expression output will always
succeed and not be downgraded to 1D output when it doesn’t fit
in the display area. Use when redirecting output or with a
terminal emulator that doesn’t wrap lines. This mode only
affects 2D output.
-x Enable HTML output mode (which is also valid XHTML). This makes
Mathomatic output suitable for inclusion in a web page. The
color mode and bold colors flags affect this mode, allowing HTML
color output. Wide output mode is also set by this option,
meaning expressions will always be displayed in 2D.
GENERAL
After any options, text files may be specified on the shell command
line that will be automatically read in with the read command.
Mathomatic is best run from within a terminal emulator. It uses
console line input and output for the user interface. First you type
in your mathematical equations in standard infix notation, then you can
solve them by typing in the variable name at the prompt, or perform
operations on them with simple English commands. Type "help" or "?"
for the help command. If the command is longer than 4 letters, you
only need to type in the first 4 letters. Most commands operate on the
current equation by default.
A command preceded by an exclamation point (such as "!ls") is taken to
be a shell command and is passed unchanged to the shell (/bin/sh). "!"
by itself invokes the default shell, which is specified in the SHELL
environment variable. "!" is also the factorial operator.
Complete documentation is available in HTML format; see the local
documentation directory or online at "http://mathomatic.org/math/doc/"
for the latest Mathomatic documentation.
ENVIRONMENT
EDITOR The EDITOR environment variable specifies which text editor to
use for the edit command.
FILES
~/.mathomaticrc
Optional startup file containing Mathomatic set command options.
It should be a text file with one set option per line. Do not
include the word "set". For example, the line "no color" will
make Mathomatic default to non-color mode, which is useful if
you are not using a standard terminal emulator.
SEE ALSO
matho-primes(1), primorial(1), matho-mult(1), matho-sum(1), matho-
pascal(1), matho-sumsq(1)
BUGS
The command to take the limit of an expression is partially functional
and experimental. All else should work perfectly; if not, report it as
a bug on the Launchpad website: "http://launchpad.net/mathomatic".
Please include version information, which you can find by running
mathomatic -v or by entering the version command.
AUTHOR
Mathomatic has been written by George Gesslein II (gesslein@linux.com)
with help from John Blommers (www.blommers.org). It is free software,
available under the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser General
Public License from "http://mathomatic.org".