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<title>MATHOMATIC(1) manual page</title>
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<a href='#toc'>Table of Contents</a><p>
<p>
<h2><a name='sect0' href='#toc0'>Name</a></h2>
mathomatic - a computer algebra system
<p>
<h2><a name='sect1' href='#toc1'>Synopsis</a></h2>
<b>mathomatic</b> [ <b>-bcehqrtuvwx</b>
] [ <b>-s</b> level ] [ <b>-m</b> number ] [ input_files or input ]
<p>
<h2><a name='sect2' href='#toc2'>Description</a></h2>
Mathomatic
is a general-purpose computer algebra system (CAS) that can symbolically
solve, simplify, combine, and compare algebraic equations, perform complex
number and polynomial arithmetic, etc. It does some calculus and handles
all elementary algebra, except logarithms. Trigonometry and function expansion
are supported in a separate program called <a href='rmath.1.html'><b>rmath</b>(1)</a>
. Plotting expressions
with <a href='gnuplot.1.html'><b>gnuplot</b>(1)</a>
is also supported.
<p> <b>mathomatic</b> is the main Mathomatic application
that does interactive symbolic-numeric mathematics through a simple command-line
interface. Readline support is usually compiled into this application, making
it easy to edit input and recall previous input with the cursor keys. The
numeric arithmetic is double precision floating point with about 14 decimal
digits accuracy. Many results will be exact, because symbolic math is an
exact math, and because multiple floating point numbers can be combined
for a single mathematical value; for example: <b>2^(1/3),</b> which is the cube
root of 2 exactly.
<p>
<h2><a name='sect3' href='#toc3'>Options</a></h2>
<dl>
<dt><b>-b</b> </dt>
<dd>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.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-c</b> </dt>
<dd>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>-b</b> option to increase
the brightness.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-e</b> </dt>
<dd>Process mathematical expressions and Mathomatic commands
instead of input files on the shell command line, and then quit. Unquoted
space characters are the line separators on the Mathomatic input that follows
this option. Works similar to entering it into the Mathomatic main prompt,
except the autoselect option is turned off. Useful for quick command-line
calculations. The startup messages are not displayed with this option. Follow
this option with "--" so that expressions can start with a minus sign (-).
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-h</b> </dt>
<dd>Display a brief help message listing all of these options and then exit.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-m number</b> </dt>
<dd>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.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-q</b> </dt>
<dd>Set quiet mode. The startup messages 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.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-r</b> </dt>
<dd>Disable readline
input processing. Readline allows line input editing using the cursor keys,
and outputs terminal control codes, all of which can be turned off with
this option.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-s level</b> </dt>
<dd>Set the enforced security level for the Mathomatic
session. Level 0 is the default with no security. Level 1 disallows shelling
out (forking). Level 2 disallows shelling out and writing files. Level 3
disallows shelling out and reading/writing files. Level 4 is the highest
security level and is the same as compiling with the -DSECURE option. This
run-time option was created for use on open public servers.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-t</b> </dt>
<dd>Set test mode.
Used when testing and comparing output. Bypasses loading startup (rc) file,
turns off color mode and readline, sets wide output mode, ignores pause
command, etc.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-u</b> </dt>
<dd>Guarantee that standard output and standard error output
are unbuffered. Also echoes all line input if not in quiet mode ( <b>-q</b> option
). Useful when piping.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-v</b> </dt>
<dd>Display version number, compilation options used,
expression array size, maximum possible memory usage, and security level,
then exit.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-w</b> </dt>
<dd>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.
<p> </dd>
<dt><b>-x</b> </dt>
<dd>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.
<p> </dd>
</dl>
<h2><a name='sect4' href='#toc4'>General</a></h2>
After any options, text files may
be specified on the shell command line that will be automatically read
in with the read command, unless the <b>-e</b> option is specified.
<p> 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 algebraic 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.
<p> 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.
<p> Complete documentation is available in
HTML and PDF formats; see the local documentation directory or online at
"<a href='http://mathomatic.org/math/doc/'>http://mathomatic.org/math/doc/</a>
" for the latest Mathomatic documentation.
<p>
<h2><a name='sect5' href='#toc5'>Environment</a></h2>
<dl>
<dt><b>EDITOR</b> </dt>
<dd>The EDITOR environment variable specifies which text
editor to use for the edit command.
<p> </dd>
</dl>
<h2><a name='sect6' href='#toc6'>Files</a></h2>
<dl>
<dt><b>~/.mathomaticrc</b> </dt>
<dd>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 aren’t using a standard ANSI terminal emulator.
<p> </dd>
</dl>
<h2><a name='sect7' href='#toc7'>Author</a></h2>
Mathomatic
has been written by George Gesslein II (gesslein@linux.com) with kind help
from John Blommers ("http://www.blommers.org") and the Internet community.
<p>
<h2><a name='sect8' href='#toc8'>Reporting Bugs</a></h2>
The command to take the limit of an expression is partially
functional and experimental. All else should work perfectly; if not, please
report it as a bug to the author or on the Launchpad website: "<a href='https://launchpad.net/mathomatic'>https://launchpad.net/mathomatic</a>
".
<p>
<h2><a name='sect9' href='#toc9'>See Also</a></h2>
<a href='rmath.1.html'><b>rmath</b>(1)</a>
, <a href='matho-primes.1.html'><b>matho-primes</b>(1)</a>
, <a href='primorial.1.html'><b>primorial</b>(1)</a>
, <a href='matho-mult.1.html'><b>matho-mult</b>(1)</a>
, <a href='matho-sum.1.html'><b>matho-sum</b>(1)</a>
,
<a href='matho-pascal.1.html'><b>matho-pascal</b>(1)</a>
, <a href='matho-sumsq.1.html'><b>matho-sumsq</b>(1)</a>
<p>
<hr><p>
<a name='toc'><b>Table of Contents</b></a><p>
<ul>
<li><a name='toc0' href='#sect0'>Name</a></li>
<li><a name='toc1' href='#sect1'>Synopsis</a></li>
<li><a name='toc2' href='#sect2'>Description</a></li>
<li><a name='toc3' href='#sect3'>Options</a></li>
<li><a name='toc4' href='#sect4'>General</a></li>
<li><a name='toc5' href='#sect5'>Environment</a></li>
<li><a name='toc6' href='#sect6'>Files</a></li>
<li><a name='toc7' href='#sect7'>Author</a></li>
<li><a name='toc8' href='#sect8'>Reporting Bugs</a></li>
<li><a name='toc9' href='#sect9'>See Also</a></li>
</ul>
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