Mathomatic by George Gesslein II This archive contains the complete C source code and documentation for Mathomatic, the automatic algebraic manipulator. Using the included makefiles, this text mode application should compile with gcc and run correctly under Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, and Cygwin, without any modifications. Most of the Mathomatic code can also be called from any C compatible program, when linked with Mathomatic specially compiled as a symbolic math library (see directory "lib"). Mathomatic is a portable Computer Algebra System (CAS) that can solve, simplify, and compare algebraic equations, perform simultaneous real number, imaginary number, and polynomial arithmetic, etc. It does some calculus and is very easy to compile, learn, and use. Plotting functions with gnuplot is also supported. All Mathomatic software and documentation are copyrighted and made available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 (see file "COPYING"). That means Mathomatic is free software and comes with no warranty at all, but if you find any errors in it, I will try to fix them. Compilation ----------- This section can be skipped; you may wish to jump to the next section with short compile/install instructions, or read the file "INSTALL.txt", if you only wish to install Mathomatic. On a Debian or Ubuntu Linux system, the "build-essential" and readline development packages are required to compile Mathomatic with readline functionality. To compile under Mac OS X, Xcode Tools should be installed, which contains the GNU C compiler (gcc) and make utility. Xcode Tools is available on one of the Mac OS X installation discs or downloadable from the Apple developer tools website. To open a shell window, double click on the "Terminal" application in "Applications/Utilities". To compile Mathomatic without readline support, type "make" at a shell prompt while in the Mathomatic source code directory. That will compile the C source code to create the executable file named "mathomatic". To run Mathomatic, type "./mathomatic" at the shell prompt. No other files are needed to run Mathomatic. To test most functionality, type: make test If no errors are encountered, "All tests passed" will be displayed, along with the total run time. To recompile with readline editing and history of all Mathomatic input, type: make clean make READLINE=1 That allows use of the cursor keys to recall and edit previously entered and pushed expressions when running Mathomatic. A readline library must be installed to use readline. To create the compile-time secure version of Mathomatic, with readline functionality and no file I/O nor shelling out possible, type: ./compile.secure That will create the executable "mathomatic_secure", which can safely be used as a telnet application or CGI program. The run-time security option "mathomatic -s3" functions similarly. Installation ------------ A typical installation is done by typing the following at the shell prompt: make READLINE=1 make test sudo make install That will compile the source code, test the functionality of the generated executable (named "mathomatic"), and install the executable, docs, and tests in "/usr/local" in less than a minute. If you like, use "make m4install" instead of "make install", to install m4 Mathomatic also, which are shell scripts named "matho" and "rmath". m4 (macro) Mathomatic allows easy entry of math functions like sqrt(x) and sin(x) as macros. "matho" runs m4 Mathomatic without readline support and "rmath" runs "matho" with a readline front end, if the "rlwrap" program is available. There are quite a few math goodies in this archive, besides the main Mathomatic program: The directory "icons" contains Mathomatic icons for your desktop. The directory "doc" contains the Mathomatic user documentation in HTML. The directory "tests" contains Mathomatic test and example scripts. The directory "primes" contains a prime number generator utility, etc. The directory "lib" contains the API and test for the Mathomatic library. The directory "m4" contains m4 Mathomatic supporting files. The directory "misc" contains a polynomial equation solver utility. The directory "factorial" contains factorial functions in C and Python. For quick help while running Mathomatic, type "?" or use the help command. To read or print the user documentation, point your web browser to the file "doc/index.html", or "/usr/local/share/doc/mathomatic/html/index.html" if Mathomatic was installed. When copying the Mathomatic documentation, please copy the entire doc or html directory, not just selected files from it. For the most recent source code, binaries, documentation, information, and other help, please visit the Mathomatic website: http://mathomatic.org This README was written by George Gesslein II, chief author and maintainer of Mathomatic: email: gesslein@linux.com postal address: George Gesslein II P.O. Box 224 Lansing, New York 14882-0224 USA The author is happy to help friendly people with any problems using this software. If you get stuck or find an error, send email to him. Any email with the word "Mathomatic" in the subject will make it past the spam filter. Please report suspected bugs in Mathomatic on the Launchpad website: "http://launchpad.net/mathomatic". Mathomatic should always give correct and beautiful answers; if not, please report it. Many thanks to Jochen Plumeyer for donating server space and services, and to John Blommers for testing, encouragement, and advice. See the "AUTHORS" file for people who have contributed code back to the Mathomatic project. Compile-time defines for the Mathomatic source code --------------------------------------------------- To compile Mathomatic for a desktop operating system like UNIX, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, or any POSIX compliant OS, define "UNIX" (see "makefile"). To compile Mathomatic for a generic system, simply compile with no defines. To compile for Microsoft Windows using Cygwin, define only "CYGWIN" (see "makefile.cygwin"). To compile for hand-helds like the Nintendo DS and the iPhone, define "HANDHELD" and "SECURE" for greatly reduced memory usage and no file I/O nor forking. Define "READLINE" and include the readline libraries at link time to use readline mode, allowing easy command line editing and history. The GNU readline development package must be installed to compile with this option and the readline library must be installed to run the resulting executable. Define "SILENT" to remove all helpful messages, warnings, and debugging code. This is useful when using Mathomatic in another program or if you only want terse output. The Mathomatic command "set debug -1" is another way to not display helpful messages and warnings. Define "LIBRARY" to compile the Mathomatic code as a symbolic math library, so that the Mathomatic symbolic math engine may be used in any C compatible program. "SILENT" is automatically defined when "LIBRARY" is defined. Most standard input and output is disabled. See the directory "lib" for the library hooks (API) and test/example program and how to compile it (read "lib/README.txt"). Define "SECURE" to disable all file reading, writing, and executing. This is useful when making Mathomatic available to the public through telnet or CGI programs. It is also useful when making ROMable or stand-alone code. All insecure commands and code are omitted with this option. See file "compile.secure", which is the secure Mathomatic build script. The run-time option -s makes this special compilation for security unnecessary. Define "TIMEOUT_SECONDS" to set the maximum number of seconds Mathomatic may run. Upon timeout, Mathomatic properly exits. This is useful when making Mathomatic a telnet or CGI program, so it won't overload the server. Define "HANDHELD" when compiling for handheld devices like the iPhone. Currently, this only reduces the maximum memory usage. The default expression array size will be reduced to be 10 times smaller to accommodate the smaller RAM size of handhelds. The "I18N" define is meant to enable internationalization using gettext(3). Currently all strings to be translated have been marked, but no translations have been made, so Mathomatic is only available in English. Define "NO_COLOR" to default to color mode off. To see which of the above defines were used in a compiled version of Mathomatic, use the version command. Mathomatic C source code files ------------------------------ altproto.h - alternate proto.h, made by hand am.h - the main include file for Mathomatic, contains tunable parameters complex.h - floating point complex number arithmetic function prototypes externs.h - global variable extern definitions, from globals.c includes.h - automatically includes all necessary include files license.h - the current Mathomatic license notice proto.h - global function prototypes, made with cproto utility am.c - miscellaneous C functions for Mathomatic cmds.c - code for commands that don't belong anywhere else complex.c - floating point complex number routines for Mathomatic complex_lib.c - generic floating point complex number arithmetic library diff.c - symbolic differentiation routines and related commands factor.c - symbolic factorizing routines (not polynomial factoring) factor_int.c - floating point constant factorizing routines gcd.c - floating point GCD and numerical fractions code globals.c - global variable and array definitions, duped in externs.h help.c - command table, help command, and input parsing routines integrate.c - integration routines and commands list.c - expression and equation display routines main.c - startup code for Mathomatic, not used for library parse.c - mathematical expression parsing routines poly.c - simplifying and polynomial routines simplify.c - simplifying routines solve.c - symbolic solving routines super.c - group and combine denominators of symbolic fractions unfactor.c - symbolic unfactorizing (expanding) routines Symbolic math library interface source code files ------------------------------------------------- lib/mathomatic.h - include file for user programs lib/lib.c - commented Mathomatic symbolic math engine API lib/test.c - test and example program main() to link with library