Re: [Help-gsl] multidimensional root finding

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

On 01/08/07, Brian Powell <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Do you know what algorithm Maple is using?
>
> I wish.  I think they keep this information under lock and key.
>

This is why proprietary software is unscientific. :-)

No, but actually Maple isn't as bad as Mathematica on this regard.
Most of the Maple source is already visible, or at least it used to
be, and Maple uses some free software (it's either GPL or LGPL, and
they do provide source for the relevant part).

There's some hackery you have to do in Maple to look at the source of
functions. Almost everything except the functions in the Maple kernel
is visible. A long time ago, when I used Maple, I knew how to do this,
but I have honestly since forgotten how to do it.

They can take the code from us, but they can't (usually) take the
algorithms too. ;-) So try to find out about the algorithm they're
using. If it's anything like other Maple algorithms, I bet it's a
combination of several things mashed together with a bunch of
heuristics. It's usually readable, with some difficulty.

- Jordi G. H.