Ubuntu Manpage: mathomatic - a computer algebra system

name
synopsis
description
options
general
environment
files
author
reporting bugs
see also

NAME

       mathomatic - a computer algebra system

SYNOPSIS

       mathomatic [ -abcdehqrtuvwx ] [ -s level ] [ -m number ] [ input_files or input ]

DESCRIPTION

       Mathomatic  is  a  general-purpose  computer  algebra system (CAS) that can symbolically solve, simplify,
       combine, and compare algebraic equations, perform  standard,  complex  number,  modular,  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  rmath(1).   Plotting
       expressions with gnuplot is also supported.

       mathomatic  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: 2^(1/3), which is the cube root of 2 exactly.

OPTIONS

-a Enable alternative colors. Ansi color mode will be enabled in MS-Windows, if this option is
specified and color mode is on.

-b 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.

-c 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 option to increase the
color brightness.

-d Set demo mode. Currently this mode only bypasses loading the startup (rc) file, and ignores the
pause command. It also allows using the calculate command without prompting for the values of any
of the variables.

-e 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 (-).

-h Display a brief help message listing all of these options and then exit.

-m number
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.

-q 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.

-r 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.

-s level
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.

-t 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 the pause command, etc. It also
allows using the calculate command without prompting for the values of any of the variables.

-u Guarantee that standard output and standard error output are unbuffered. Also echoes all line
input if not in quiet mode ( -q option ). Useful when piping.

-v Display program name and version number, then exit successfully.

-w 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.

-x Enable HTML output mode (which is also valid XHTML). This makes Mathomatic output suitable for
inclusion in a web page. Color and bold mode affect this mode, allowing HTML color output. Wide
output mode is also set by this option, meaning expressions will always be displayed in 2D.

GENERAL

       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 -e option is specified.

       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, "help examples" to get started.  If the
       command name is longer than 4 letters, you only need to type in  the  first  4  letters.   Most  commands
       operate on the current equation by default.

       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.

       Complete  documentation  is  available  in HTML and PDF formats; see the local documentation directory or
       online at "http://mathomatic.org/math/doc/" for the latest Mathomatic documentation.

ENVIRONMENT

       EDITOR The EDITOR environment variable specifies which text editor to use for the edit command.

FILES

       ~/.mathomaticrc
              Optional startup file containing Mathomatic set command options.  It should be a  text  file  with
              one  or  more set options per line.  For example, the line "no color" will make Mathomatic default
              to non-color mode, which is useful if you aren't using a supported color device.

AUTHOR

       Mathomatic has been written by George Gesslein II (gesslein@mathomatic.org), with help from the  Internet
       community.

REPORTING BUGS

       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:
       "https://launchpad.net/mathomatic".