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	ABOUT: [Introduction][History][Related areas][Subfields] POINTERS: [Texts][Software][Web links][Selected topics here] 68W30: Symbolic computation and algebraic computation

Introduction

We use this page to store information about Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) as well as the general algorithms used for computer algebra. Specific algorithms (e.g. symbolic differentiation, Gröbner basis calculations, etc.) are treated on the index pages more relevant for those subjects.

History

Applications and related fields

For the corresponding discussion of numerical computations see 65: Numerical Analysis.

Subfields

Parent field: 68W: Algorithms. (Until a page for 68W is created, plase return up one level higher, to 68: Computer Science.

Textbooks, reference works, and tutorials

Paule, P.; Nemes, I.: "A canonical form guide to symbolic summation", Advances in the design of symbolic computation systems, 84--110, Texts Monogr. Symbol. Comput., Springer, Vienna, 1997. MR98m:68131

There is a newsgroup sci.math.symbolic for general discussion of symbolic algebra, and several product-specific newsgroups for particular vendors' products, including comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica and comp.soft-sys.math.scilab.

There is a Maple mailing list at maple-list@daisy.uwaterloo.ca; Here is mailing list information; Citations for reference materials for Maple.

Software and tables

This seems to be the appropriate place to list the major computer packages which use symbolic computation:

• Links for all of them: http://www.indiana.edu/~statmath/softinfo.html
• Macsyma home: http://www.macsyma.com. [Here also is a pointer to Macsyma source.]
• Maple home: http://daisy.uwaterloo.ca/home.html or http://www.maplesoft.com/.
• MathCad home: http://www.mathsoft.com/.
• Mathematica home: http://www.wri.com/mathematica/. [Here are some further pointers to Mathematica information, Mathematica algorithms and packages, Mathsource (Mathematica information from Wolfram), and a Mathematica primer.]
• Matlab home: http://www.mathworks.com/
• MuPad home: http://www.mupad.de/ [Here also is a pointer to MuPad]
• Reduce home: http://www.rrz.uni-koeln.de/REDUCE/.
• Axiom home: http://www.nag.co.uk/symbolic/AX.html

Other web sites with this focus

• Special Purpose Computer [Algebra] Systems
• A description and detailed information for each of the systems mentioned in the FAQ, at Berkeley
• AMS's General packages software list.
• SIAM's Computational Mathematics Page and their Symbolic Computation page.

Selected topics at this site

• FAQ: list of currently developed and distributed software for symbolic mathematical applications [Long: includes specialty products as well.]
• Pointer to symbolic-algebra information.
• Pointer to Computational Algebra archives
• Comparisons of Macsyma to its competitors.
• Citations and pointers for computer algebra and symbolic computation techniques
• An old list of challenge questions for Computer Algebra systems (by Richard Pavell, courtesy the REDUCE library)
• Kahan's old list of (easy!) Mathematica stumpers.
• The soft underbelly of symbolic computation exposed!
• What does "simplify" mean? A challenge for computer algebra systems.
• Maple V release 3 cannot factor 3511^2 !
• Putting a recursive sequence into closed form (with and without Maple)
• Pointers to reviews of computer algebra systems
• Using symbolic algebra programs to test injectivity of a function
• Difficulties encountered by symbolic algebra problems when computing a limit
• Why isn't the Risch algorithm fully implemented in computer algebra systems?
• Humans can integrate 1/(1+tan(x)^c) on [0,pi/2] but machines cannot!