Mathomatic
by
George Gesslein II
This archive contains the complete C source code and documentation for
Mathomatic, the automatic algebraic manipulator. Mathomatic compiles and runs
under any operating system with a C compiler. There are no dependencies other
than the standard C libraries. Using the included makefile, this text mode
application should compile with the GNU C compiler (gcc) and run correctly
under Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows, without any
modifications. To compile under Solaris and the like, see "INSTALL.txt".
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 free, portable, general-purpose Computer Algebra System (CAS)
that can automatically solve, differentiate, simplify, combine, and compare
algebraic equations, perform standard, complex number, and polynomial
arithmetic, etc. It does some calculus and is very easy to compile, learn,
and use. Plotting expressions with gnuplot is also supported.
License
-------
All Mathomatic software and documentation in this archive are copyrighted.
The Mathomatic documentation in the "doc" directory is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License (GFDL) version 1.3. The Mathomatic software and
all else are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
version 2.1 (see file "COPYING" for the full text of the license). 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. It also means that even
closed-source, proprietary software can include and make use of the
Mathomatic symbolic math library, but please tell me if you are using
Mathomatic in your software.
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 computer, the "build-essential" and readline
development packages "libreadline-dev" 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 GNU 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.
The latest Mathomatic source code may be downloaded from:
http://www.mathomatic.org/math/download.html
To extract and use the Mathomatic source code archive, make a new directory,
copy the archive to it and change directory to it, and extract the archive
with the unzip or tar utilities. unzip and tar always extract to the current
directory, so be sure to change directory (cd) to where you want it.
To compile Mathomatic without readline support, simply type the name of the
GNU make utility (either "make" or "gmake", depending on the operating
system) at the shell prompt while in the Mathomatic source code directory.
This will compile the C source code using the instructions in file "makefile"
to create the executable file named "mathomatic". To run Mathomatic, type
"./mathomatic" at the shell prompt. No other files are needed to run
Mathomatic, so the executable can be copied to anywhere you like.
To test most functionality, type "make test" or "./t". If no errors are
encountered, "All tests passed" will be displayed, along with the total run
time. Otherwise the differences from the expected output will be displayed.
To recompile with readline, which allows editing and history recall of all
Mathomatic line input by pressing the arrow keys, 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 compile for and 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 compile/install is done by typing the following at the shell
prompt, while in the Mathomatic source code directory:
make READLINE=1
make test
sudo make install
That will compile the source code with readline enabled, 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" or "make m4install-degrees" 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" simply runs m4
Mathomatic while "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 "doc" contains the Mathomatic user documentation.
The directory "factorial" contains factorial functions in C and Python.
The directory "icons" contains Mathomatic icons for your desktop.
The directory "lib" contains the API and test for the Mathomatic library.
The directory "m4" contains the m4 (macro) Mathomatic supporting files.
The directory "menu" contains the Debian Menu System files for Mathomatic.
The directory "misc" contains a polynomial equation solver utility, etc.
The directory "primes" contains a prime number generator utility, etc.
The directory "tests" contains Mathomatic test and example scripts.
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 HTML files from it.
For the most recent source code, binaries, documentation, information, and
other help, please visit the Mathomatic website: "http://www.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.
Please report suspected bugs in Mathomatic to the author via email, or on the
Launchpad website: "https://launchpad.net/mathomatic". Launchpad features a
complete bug management system. Mathomatic should always give correct,
simple, and beautiful answers; if not, please report it.
Many thanks to Jochen Plumeyer ("http://www.plumeyer.org") for donating
server space and services, and to John Blommers ("http://www.blommers.org")
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 on the C compiler command
line with "-DUNIX". To compile Mathomatic for a generic system, simply
compile with no defines. To compile for Microsoft Windows with the MinGW gcc
compiler, define MINGW. To compile for Microsoft Windows using Cygwin gcc,
define CYGWIN. To compile for embedded systems or handhelds 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 recall by
pressing the arrow keys. The 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 when SECURE is defined. See file
"compile.secure", which is the secure Mathomatic build script. The run-time
option -s3 does the same thing and 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 embedded systems or 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 software license notice
proto.h - global function prototypes, made with cproto utility
am.c - standard routines 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/testmain.c - test and example program main() to link with library
