fmins; Symbolic functions

[James Ryan]

Hello all,
        
        I think octave is excellent.  I just incorporated the fsolve
        from cpearls.  I have been using this to replace the fmins calls
        that I have from old matlab code that I wrote.  Unfortunately,
        fsolve doesn't return with a 1 for info, unless a root of the
        function is found.
        
        Of course, it shouldn't do this anyways.  fmins, if incorporated
        into octave, would return 1 if a local minimum is found (even if
        this minimum was not a zero).
        
        Does octave have such a function?
        
        Also, is there plans to get symbolic functions into octave.  I
        tend to use invlaplace(f) (ie. where f = '1/(s+2)') and get a 
        symbolic answer of e^(-2t).
        
        I think matlab uses maple for this kind of stuff.  So I wouldn't
        be surprised if there is not intention of including this in 
        octave.
        
        Thanks for the info,
        
        Jay Ryan
        
                --EE Virginia Tech