Re: how to call functions from symbolic package?

[Sergei Steshenko]

--- On Tue, 8/31/10, Aditya Bhagwat <address@hidden> wrote:

> From: Aditya Bhagwat <address@hidden>
> Subject: how to call functions from symbolic package?
> To: address@hidden
> Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 10:45 PM
> Dear all,
> 
> Where can I find more information on how to call the
> functions from the
> octave "symbolic" package?
> 
> There is a function reference on 'sourceforge'
> http://octave.sourceforge.net/symbolic/overview.html
> But, that is defective for some of the (important)
> functions. For
> instance, for the function 'sym' the only information I get
> is "Create an
> object of type symbol", leaving me wondering with which
> input/output
> arguments the function needs to be called.
> 
> I tried looking at the 'symbols.oct' file on my system:
> /usr/lib/octave/packages/3.2/symbolic-1.0.9/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-api-v37/symbols.oct
> However, I could not read this file (tried reading with
> vim). I suppose
> it's a compiled file.
> 
> Therefore, is there any other source of information on how
> the functions
> from the "octave symbolic" package should be called and
> used?
> 
> Thanks a lot for your help!
> 
> Aditya
> 

Long ago I kind of (half)figured out how to deal with the package and
didn't find it practical/convenient.

So for myself I decided to switch to a more dedicated to symbolic 
calculations packages like 'maxima', 'fricas':

http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
http://wxmaxima.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

http://fricas.sourceforge.net/
.

You can conduct symbolic manipulations in the above packages and import
into 'octave' the formulas they produce for heavy calculations. OTOH, the
packages can perform calculations too, but I do not know how comparable
with 'octave' they WRT performance.


Regards,
  Sergei.