<html lang="en"> <head> <title>What is Octave? - Frequently asked questions about Octave (with answers)</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="Frequently asked questions about Octave (with answers)"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="prev" href="index.html#Top" title="Top"> <link rel="next" href="Licensing-Issues.html#Licensing-Issues" title="Licensing Issues"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="What-is-Octave%3f"></a> <a name="What-is-Octave_003f"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Licensing-Issues.html#Licensing-Issues">Licensing Issues</a>, Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="index.html#Top">Top</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="index.html#Top">Top</a> <hr> </div> <h2 class="chapter">1 What is Octave?</h2> <p>Octave is a high-level interactive language, primarily intended for numerical computations that is mostly compatible with <span class="sc">Matlab</span>.<a rel="footnote" href="#fn-1" name="fnd-1"><sup>1</sup></a> <p>Octave can do arithmetic for real, complex or integer-valued scalars and matrices, solve sets of nonlinear algebraic equations, integrate functions over finite and infinite intervals, and integrate systems of ordinary differential and differential-algebraic equations. <p>Octave uses the GNU readline library to handle reading and editing input. By default, the line editing commands are similar to the cursor movement commands used by GNU Emacs, and a vi-style line editing interface is also available. At the end of each session, the command history is saved, so that commands entered during previous sessions are not lost. <p>The Octave distribution includes a 650+ page Texinfo manual. Access to the complete text of the manual is available via the <code>doc</code> command at the Octave prompt. <ul class="menu"> <li><a accesskey="1" href="Who-develops-Octave_003f.html#Who-develops-Octave_003f">Who develops Octave?</a> <li><a accesskey="2" href="Why-GNU-Octave_003f.html#Why-GNU-Octave_003f">Why GNU Octave?</a> <li><a accesskey="3" href="What-version-should-I-use_003f.html#What-version-should-I-use_003f">What version should I use?</a> <li><a accesskey="4" href="On-what-platforms-does-Octave-run_003f.html#On-what-platforms-does-Octave-run_003f">On what platforms does Octave run?</a> </ul> <div class="footnote"> <hr> <h4>Footnotes</h4><p class="footnote"><small>[<a name="fn-1" href="#fnd-1">1</a>]</small> <span class="sc">Matlab</span> is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.</p> <hr></div> </body></html>