Introduction to Maxima

Maxima is a symbolic-based mathematical software providing a number

of functions for algebraic manipulation, calculus operations, matrix and
linear algebra, and other mathematical calculations.

Maxima web page

The Maxima web page is located at:

http://maxima.sourceforge.net/

Read the description of Maxima shown in this page. The page also includes a number of
links including a Download link. Download and install Maxima in your computer as
indicated in the download page.

The Maxima web page also includes a Documentation link with a number of tutorials on the
use of Maxima.

xMaxima and wxMaxima

The figure below shows the listing of programs and documents available for Maxima 5.14.0
in a Windows Vista installation.

You will notice that there are two possible instances of Maxima called XMaxima and
wxMaxima. While both allow the user access to the Maxima commands, the difference is
in the graphic user interface (GUI) used to communicate with Maxima.

XMaxima
An example of the XMaxima interface is shown in Figure 1.1. The top of the GUI is the
input window for Maxima commands. The lower part is a display of a Maxima Primer
document providing the user with some information about getting started with Maxima. In
between the top and lower part of the display you will find buttons labeled File, Back,

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Forward, Edit, Options, and Url: The last button refers to the file specification shown in
the field immediately to its right. In this case, the file specification reads:

file:/C:/PROGRA~/MAXIMA~1.0/share/maxima/514~1.0/xmaxima/INTRO~1.HTM

The full reference to this file should be:

file:/C:/Program Files/Maxima-5.14.0/share/maxima/5.14.0/xmaxima/intro.html

The XMaxima GUI abbreviates some of the sub-folders in the first file specification
producing the reference shown above, which could be a bit confusing. The full file
specification shows the location of the file being shown in the bottom window of the
XMaxima GUI. This html file is located in the Maxima installation as indicated above.

Figure 1.1. XMaxima starting GUI

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The Back and Forward buttons allow the user to move about the document, while the other
buttons provide the following menu items:

Using the Maxima Primer

Scroll down the Maxima Primer document to learn about the use of Maxima. One of the
first applications is presented in the following paragraph (lifted from the document):

Double-click on the integrate command shown in the Maxima Primer to see Maxima in
action in the XMaxima window. The top window will now show the following operation:

Notice that there are two input locations labeled (%i1), or input 1, and (%i2), or input 2.
Input 1 (%i1) is missing any input. This is so, because by double-clicking the integrate line

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in the Maxima Primer, we activated the input without copying it to the top window. The
result, however, is available in the top window as output 1 (%o1). Also, notice that
XMaxima presents the result of the integral as closely as possible as a two-dimensional
mathematical expression, i.e.,
2 x - 1
2 atan(-------)
log(x - x + 1) sqrt(3) log(x + 1)
(%o1) - --------------- + ------------- + ----------
6 sqrt(3) 3

as opposite to a one-dimensional mathematical entry, i.e.,

-log(x^2-x+1)/6+ atan((2*x-1)/sqrt(3))/sqrt(3) + log(x+1)/3.

The full mathematical operation calculated in this example can be, on paper, written as

dx
1x 3 =
2
ln x x1

tan1
2x 1
3

log x1 .
6 3 3

The user is invited to continue reading the Maxima Primer document and double-click on
the different examples listed to learn the basic operation of Maxima. Following those
exercises, one may notice, for example, that in the XMaxima interface, the mathematical
constant (the ratio of the length of a circumference to its diameter) is referred to as
%pi. Also, infinity () is referred to as inf.

The Maxima Primer examples include also plots that are produced in their own separate
graphics window, e.g., the commands

plot2d(sin(x),[x,0,2*%pi])
plot3d(x^2-y^2,[x,-2,2],[y,-2,2],[grid,12,12])

produce, respectively, the two-dimensional and a three-dimensional graphs shown below.

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Click-off the graphical windows before continuing with the other commands in the Maxima
Primer.

wxMaxima
wxMaxima uses an interface as shown in Figure 1.2, below.

Figure 1.2. The wxMaxima GUI.

This interface is more sophisticated than that of XMaxima for the following reasons:

wxMaxima produces true two-dimensional mathematical output

wxMaxima provides most Maxima commands in menus (e.g., Equations, Algebra,
etc.)
Some commands can be activated by using the buttons shown at the bottom of the
interface, e.g., Simplify, Factor, etc.
wxMaxima provides dialogues to enter parameters of selected commands.
wxMaxima maintains a command line history buffer where previously used commands
can be accessed, repeated, or edited.
wxMaxima allows mixing text with mathematical expressions to produce printable
documents.
The current version of wxMaxima supports simple animations (to see the current
version use the menu item Help > About).

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A web page for wxMaxima is available here:

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

For hints on the efficient use of wxMaxima visit:

http://wxmaxima.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Howto

NOTE: Because of the additional features available in wxMaxima, we will use this GUI
exclusively to present the examples contained in this and subsequent chapters. We will not
be using XMaxima anymore in this or subsequent chapters.

wxMaxima menus
Take some time to explore the different menus in the wxMaxima GUI:

The File menu contains items typically found in windows-based applications such as
Open, Read file, Save, Save As..., Export to HTML, Select File, Print, and Exit. Some
items in the File menu, such as Load package, Batch file, and Monitor File, are
proper of wxMaxima.
The Edit menu contains typical commands such as Copy, Cut, and Paste, as well as
others that are proper for wxMaxima.
The Maxima menu contains items that allow the user to control the operation of
Maxima.
The Equations, Algebra, Calculus, Simplify, Plotting, and Numeric menus provide
mathematical functions that are entered using dialogues.
The Help menu contains several items of interest such as:
Maxima help: opens the Maxima Manual window with description and examples of
Maxima commands.
Describe: produces a dialogue where the user can enter the name of a specific
command. Try, for example, plot3d, and press OK. The dialogue will access the
section of the Maxima Manual corresponding to the requested command.
Example: enters a series of examples of applications of the requested command
into the wxMaxima interface. Try, for example, integrate, and press OK.
Apropos: use this dialogue to enter a keyword to search for a command that is
similar to the keyword. For example, if you were seeking information on
integration, you could enter the word integra, to get a listing of commands that
may be related to integra. Then, you can use Describe or Example with one of
the commands listed.
Show tip: shows tips on the use of Maxima.
Build info: provides information on the current version of Maxima.
Bug report: provides a web site where users can report errors in the operation of
Maxima, or unexpected results of some operations. These bugs are reported
to the programming team and solutions to them (if available) get incorporated in
the new versions of the software.
About: provides the current version of wxMaxima. Notice that the versions of
Maxima and vxMaxima are not necessarily the same. My installation, at the

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 moment of typing this book, showed Maxima version 5.14.0 and wxMaxima
version 0.7.4. Remember that Maxima is the computer program that performs
the mathematical calculations, while wxMaxima is the graphics user interface
(GUI).

wxMaxima tool bar

The wxMaxima GUI provides a tool bar with the following buttons:

(1) Open session

(2) Save session
(3) Print document
(4) Configure wxMaxima
(5) Copy selection
(6) Delete selection
(7) Insert text
(8) Insert input group
(9) Interrupt current computation
(10) Show Maxima help (same as menu item Help > Maxima help)

Using the INPUT line

The INPUT line in the wxMaxima interface can be used for a variety of purposes such as:

To perform a calculation, e.g., sqrt(1+3.5^2)/sin(%pi/6);

To define one or more variables, e.g., a:2; b:2;
To define a function, e.g., f(x):=sqrt(1+x^2);
To evaluate a function, e.g., f(2/3);
To produce a plot, e.g., plot2d(f(x),[x,-2,2]);
To enter other type of operations, e.g., a derivative: diff(t^2*sin(t), t);

Here are some observations from the examples shown above:

To enter the value of a variable use a colon (:)

To define a function use a colon followed by the equal sign (:=)
Maxima expressions end with a semi-colon. If you forget to enter the semi-colon in
the INPUT line, wxMaxima will enter it for you.

This is additional information useful when entering expressions:

Variable or function names must start with a letter, and may include letters,
numbers, and undersign, e.g.,

vx:2; x2:3; y_2:5; Initial_Velocity:-2.5;

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 The following are reserved words in Maxima and cannot be used as variable names:

integrate next from diff

in at limit sum
for and elseif then
else do or if
unless product while thru
step

Some pre-defined functions: Some of the common pre-defined functions in Maxima include:

sqrt square root sin sine cos cosine

tan tangent cot cotangent sec secant
csc cosecant asin inverse sine acos inverse cosine
atan inverse tangent acot inverse cotangent asec inverse secant
acsc inverse cosecant exp exponential log natural logarithm
sinh hyperbolic sine cosh hyperbolic cosine tanh hyperbolic tangent
asinh hyperbolic asin acosh hyperbolic acos atanh hyperbolic atan
floor integer below ceiling integer above fix integer part
float conver to floating point abs absolute value

Maxima does not have a logarithm-base-10 function. Instead, use:

log x
log 10 x =
log 10

Here are some examples you can try:

sin(2.5*%e);float(sin(2.5*%e));
floor(%pi);ceiling(%pi);
log(5);float(log(5));
k:float(log(3)/log(10));
float(10^k);abs(-2);fix(3.3);fix(-3.2);

Notice that Maxima will tend to give symbolic results (i.e., results including fractions,
square roots, unevaluated trigonometric, exponential, or logarithmic functions) rather than
floating-point (or numerical) results. Use function float, as in the examples above, to get
floating-point solutions.

Automatic parentheses. Whenever you enter an opening parenthesis in the INPUT line, a
closing parenthesis is added automatically. If you are not used to this feature, you may
end up entering more closing parentheses than needed. This situation will result in an
error that is easy to spot.

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The percentage (%) operator.The percentage (%) symbol represents the most recent result.
Try these examples:

exp(-2.5)*sin(3*%pi/11);float(%);exp(-3);float(%);log(5);float(%);

To access the second-to-last commans use %2, the third-to-last, use %3, and so on.

Mathematical constants. Some of the common mathematical constants available in Maxima

are:

%e base of the common logarithms (=exp(1))

%i imaginary unit (=sqrt(-1))
inf real positive infinity
minf real negative infinity
infinite complex infinity
% phi the golden ratio ()
% pi ratio of length of circumference to its diameter ()
%gamma Euler's constant ()
false, true boolean values (or logical values)

Here are some examples to try (in some examples we use function is to check whether
comparisons of numbers are true or false):

float(%phi);float(%pi);float(%e);%gamma;
is(3>2);is(3<2);is(x<3);
integrate(exp(-x^2/2),x,-inf,inf);integrate(exp(-x^2/2),x,minf,inf);

Some examples of complex numbers. The unit imaginary number i is entered as %i in

Maxima. Here are some examples of complex number calculations:

z1:3+5*%i; z2:-2+6*%i;z1+z2;z1-z2;expand(z1*z2);expand(z1^2);

The following functions apply to complex numbers:

cabs (complex absolute value) calculates the modulus

carg (complex argument) calculates the argument
rectform generate rectangular (Cartesian) form
polarform generate polar form
realpart extract the real part
imagpart extract the imaginary part
conjugate calculates the complex conjugate

The following examples illustrate some of these functions:

cabs(z1);arg(z1);
z2;-z2;conjugate(z2);expand(z2*conjugate(z2));
rectform(z1/z2);rectform(sqrt(z1));polarform(z1);polarform(z2);

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Using the button panel
The bottom of the xwMaxima GUI contains 12 buttons that can be used for common
operations. The collection of buttons is shown in the figure below, with the Maxima
commands associated with them.

Buttons (1) through (4), and (7) through (10) operate on an expression typed in the INPUT
line before pressing the corresponding button. Buttons (5), (6), (11), and (12) trigger
dialogues to performed the associated operations. The operation of the buttons, with
appropriate examples, is shown next.

(1) Simplify: simplifies algebraic operations, e.g., (x+2)*(x-2); [Simplify]

(2) Simplify(r): simplifies expressions containing logs, exponentials, and radicals, e.g.,
(%e^x-1)/(%e^(x/2)+1); [Simplify(r)]

(3) Factor: factors an algebraic expression, e.g., x^2+y^2-2*x*y; [simplify(r)]

(4) Expand: expands an algebraic expression, e.g., (x+1)*(x-1)*(x^2+1); [Expand]

(5) Solve...: solves an equation, e.g.,

(6) Plot 2D...: produces an x-y (two dimensional) plot, e.g.,

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(7) Simplify(tr): trigonometric simplification in terms of sin and cos,e.g., tan(x)
[Simplify (tr)]

(8) Expand(tr): expands a trigonometric expression, e.g., sin(x+y) [Expand(tr)]

(9) Reduce(tr): convert powers of trigonometric functions to those of multiples of the

angle, e.g., x+3*cos(x)^2-sin(x)^2; [Reduce(tr)]

(10)Rectform: produces the rectangular form of a complex number, e.g., 1/(2+3*%i);

[Rectform]

(11)Solve ODE...: solves a 1st order or 2nd order ordinary differential equation, e.g.,

dn y
Note: Derivatives are written using 'diff(y,x,n) to represent n .
dx

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 (12) Plot3D: produces a three-dimensional plot, e.g.,

Using the full button panel

The button panel described above is referred to as the Basic button panel. It is possible to
activate a Full button panel by using the menu option Edit > Configure. This activates a
wxMaxima configuration window as shown next:

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Select the option Full in the Button panel drop-down menu to activate the Full button
panel, and press [ OK ]. wxMaxima will respond with the following message:

Press [ OK ] in this message form, and then [ OK ] again in the wxMaxima configuration
window, and click off wxMaxima. The Full button panel will not be active until you re-start
wxMaxima.

When you re-start wxMaxima, the bottom part of the interface will show the Full button
panel:

which now includes 20 buttons, instead of the 12 buttons of the Basic button panel. The
new buttons are shown in the following figure, labeled (13) to (20), with labels shown in
boldface letters (no all the buttons are shown):

The operation of buttons (13) through (20) is described below:

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(13) sum: allows setting up and calculating a summation, e.g.,

(14) product: allows setting up and calculating a product, e.g.,

(15) diff: calculates a derivative, e.g.,

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(16) integrate: calculates an integral

(17) limit: calculates a limit

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(18) taylor: calculates a Taylor series for an expression:

(19) subst: substitute an expression into a variable name

(20) map: maps a function to a list

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Using Greek letters
In order to write Greek letters in Maxima you need to have the font SPIonic installed in your
computer. You can download this font from:

http://www.drshirley.org/fonts/SPIonic.ttf

After installing the font in your computer, you need to select it to show Greek characters in
your wxMaxima interface. Proceed as follows:

Select the menu option Edit>Configure

Click on the Style tab
Check-off the Use greek font entry, and select SPIonic
Press OK

To enter Greek letters type the English name of the letter in an expression, or precede the
name with the percentage symbol (%), e.g.,

factor(beta^2-1);
rectform(1/(%alpha+%beta*%i);
expand((alpa-1)*(beta+gamma));
expand((%alpha-1)*(%beta+%gamma));

Notice the difference between typing gamma and %gamma in the last two examples. Typing
gamma (without %) produces the upper-case Greek letter which represents the Gamma
function from mathematics, whereas, %gamma produces Euler constant , defined, as the
limit as n , of the quantity
n

1k ln n .
k =1

To illustrate the use of the Gamma function try the following

exercises in wxMaxima:

gamma(2.5);
plot2d(gamma(x),[x,0.5,3.0]);

Examples from the Equations menu

In this section we present some examples of applications from
the Equations menu. We use it to illustrate the use of menus
such as Equations, Algebra, Calculus, etc. A listing of the
available applications in the Equations menu is shown below:

Try the following examples by selecting entries from this

menu:

Solve ... same as: solve([x^2+32*x-160=0], [x]);

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 Solve numerically ... equivalent to find_root(sin(x)-cos(x)=0.5, x, 0, %pi);

Roots of polynomial -- Try: x^3+25*x^2-5*x+212=0; Equations > Roots of polynomial.

Equivalent to allroots(%);

Roots of polynomial (real) Try: x^3+25*x^2-5*x+212=0; Equations > Roots of

polynomial (real). Equivalent to realroots(%);

Solve linear system ... equivalent to

linsolve([x+3*y+5*z=125, x+y+z=10, x-y+z=8], [x,y,z]);

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 Solve algebraic system ... equivalent to
algsys([x*y^2+2*x*y = 1200, (x+y)*(x-y)=200], [x,y]);

Eliminate variable ... See the example available in the Maxima Manual by selecting
the menu option Help > Example..., and type eliminate:

Solve ODE... This is the same as pressing the button [Solve ODE...]. Equivalent to:
ode2('diff(y,x,2)+y=sin(x), y, x);

Initial value problem (1) ... Initial value problem for first-order ODE. Uses two
steps, first Solve ODE ..., then Initial value problem (1). Equivalent to:

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 Initial value problem (2) ... Initial value problem for second-order ODE. Uses two
steps: first Solve ODE ..., then Initial value problem (2). Equivalent to:
ode2('diff(y,x)+y=x,y,x); ic1(%,x=0,y=1);

Boundary value problem ... Boundary value problem for second-order ODE. Uses two
steps: first Solve ODE ..., then Boundary value problem. Equivalent to:
ode2('diff(x,t,2)+x=sin(t),x,t); ic2(%,t=0,x=1,'diff(x,t)=-1);

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 Solve ODE with Laplace Solve an ordinary differential equation using Laplace
transforms. Equivalent to desolve('diff(x(t),t,2)+x(t) = sin(t),x(t));

At value ... - Replace a variable in an expression. In this example the replacement

takes place in the solution to an ODE.

Managing a wxMaxima session

In this section we illustrate the use of inputs and outputs and of the command history to
perform operations on algebraic expressions.

Inputs and outputs

If you have been trying the examples shown above, your wxMaxima interface would show a
number of inputs and outputs. Inputs are shown by the prompt (%i...) with an associated
number, e.g.,

Outputs are shown by the prompt (%o...) with an associated number, e.g.,

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Restarting Maxima
Since the inputs and outputs in your wxMaxima interface will be different than this
example, let's restart Maxima by using the menu option Edit > Restart Maxima, and press
[OK] at the prompt. This action will clear Maxima's memory and reset the interface to that
shown in Figure 1.2 (see above). At this point, only input (%1) will be available. Let's try
the following session. Type the commands as shown next:

Operations on input and output references

Now, we are going to use the input and output references to perform operations. Try the
following commands:

Thus, references such as %i1, %o1, etc., act like variable names that can be operated upon
as any other variable. An alternative would be to actually assign variable names to the
expressions entered. To try this approach we will also illustrate the use of the command
history for performing operations.

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Using the command history in wxMaxima
Every single command that you enter in wxMaxima gets stored into a command history
buffer. This buffer is accessible by clicking on the INPUT line and using the up and down
arrow keys in your keyboard. As you press the upper arrow key once, the last command will
be shown. As you keep pressing that key, the second-to-last command, third-to-last
command, etc., will be shown in the INPUT line. For example, for the present exercise,
click in the INPUT line, and press the upper-arrow key until you recover the very first
expression entered, namely:

Then, use the left-arrow key to move the cursor to the left of the first parentheses, and
type:
a:

then press [ENTER], or click on the Enter command button: . The result is the
following:

Now, we can refer to variable a for performing operations on this expression, e.g.,

The command history can be accessed, therefore, through the use of the up- and down-
arrow keys in your keyboard. Once a command is accessed this way, you can either press
[ENTER] to repeat it, or edit it in the INPUT line in order to perform a different operation.

End-of-line characters
It was mentioned earlier that every Maxima command ends in a semi-colon (;), and that if
one fails to enter that end-of-line character, wxMaxima will enter it automatically. The
fact is that, besides the semi-colon, there is also a supress-output character, namely, the
dollar sign ($), which can be used as end-of-line character. Using the dollar sign ($) to end
a Maxima statement suppresses the output of the command. However, the command gets
executed in memory. For example, try the following commands:

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In input (%i11), above, variables r and s are assigned the values 25 and 32, respectively, but
no output is shown because the statements end in a dollar sign ($), rather than in a semi-
colon (;). However, output (%o13) shows that the statement r^2+s^2; was evaluated
properly.

The use of the dollar sign ($) as end-of-line character saves space in the wxMaxima
interface as illustrated in the following example:

Notice that the dollar sign ($) in input (%i14) suppresses the output for the differential
equation myODE1. Also, notice the use of the Greek character omega () as a coefficient
in the differential equation myODE1. Furthermore, notice that, in attempting a solution
for myODE1, Maxima doesn't know a-priori what the value of is. So, Maxima asks from
the user whether is zero or nonzero. In this example, the user types nonzero, and
Maxima returns the solution.

Saving your session

To save your session use the menu option File > Save As ... and give a name to the file into
which you will save your session. The following dialog form was used in a Windows Vista
environment to save the current session.

The file storing the session will be located in the folder ../Documents/MAXIMA/, and will be
named myFirstMaximaSession.wxm.

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Reloading your session
Restart Maxima (Edit > Restart Maxima) and use the menu item File > Open to browse your
computer file system. For example, in a Windows Vista environment, I located the file I
want to load in the following dialog form:

In this case, Maxima opens the file and executes every command, stopping at input (%i15)
where it asks again about the value of coefficient w in variable myODE1. Repeating the
response nonzero allows Maxima to continue evaluating the file to recover the entire
session saved.

Printing your session

To produce a hard-copy of your session use the menu item File > Print.

Loading a session without executing it

An alternative way to load a saved session is by using the menu item File > Read File. Using
this option will list all the commands in the session without executing it. The commands
will be available in the command history, and could be reactivated by using the up- and
down-arrow keys, and pressing [ENTER] when the proper command is in the INPUT line.

Interrupting a calculation
If, for some reason, wxMaxima seems to be hung up in a calculation, you can interrupt the
processing by using the menu item Maxima > Interrupt, or type Cntl-G. Alternatively, use
the interrupt button in the menu bar:

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Ending your session
To end your session use the menu item File > Exit, or click the [x] in the upper right corner
of the wxMaxima window. This action produces the dialog form shown below.

Select [OK] if you don't want to save your current session. Otherwise, press [Cancel], save
your session as indicated above, and exit wxMaxima once more.

Formatting your session

This section includes some examples of the use of text for commenting your session, as well
as inserting sections and titles in your session.

Inserting text (comments) in wxMaxima

To enter text in wxMaxima use the menu item Edit > Insert > Text. The characters /* will
be shown above the next input reference. Type one or more lines of text at the current
cursor location. This line (or lines) of text can be used to comment your session. An
example is shown next:

Text lines contained in saved session files get loaded with the rest of the commands when
using File > Open or File > Read file.

Inserting a title or a section in wxMaxima

To insert a title use the menu item Edit > Insert > Title. This operation is similar to
inserting text, except that the text is provided in a larger font.

To insert a section use the menu item Edit > Insert > Section. This operation is also similar
to inserting text, except that the text is provided in a larger font and with an underline.

The following example shows a title and a section insertion in a wxMaxima session.

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Inserting input
The menu item Edit > Insert > Input produces a prompt input as illustrated in the following
example:

If you enter a new command in the INPUT line, then the statement in front of the input
prompt remains unevaluated. However, if you click on the input prompt statement, thus
selecting it, and do a right-click, you can evaluate the command by selecting the option
Re-evaluate input. In this case, the input gets evaluated as follows:

Clearing the screen

The option Edit > Clear screen clears the current wxMaxima screen, showing at the top of
the screen the current input reference, e.g.,

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Additional session management in wxMaxima
In this session we explore some of the menu items under the Maxima menu, namely:

Clear memory: clears all variables user-defined functions - equivalent to kill(all);

Add to path: allows user to select folders to add to the search path for Maxima
Show functions: lists all user-defined functions in the current session (functions;)
Show definition: provides a dialogue form to request function definitions in session
Show variables: lists all variables active in the current session (values;)
Delete function: delete selected user-defined function or functions
Delete variable: delete selected variables

The following example shows the definition of variables and functions and the listing of
their names:

The option Show definition is used next to find the definition of function f2:

The result is shown below:

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The option Delete functions produce the dialogue:

To delete functions f1 and f2 we enter those names in the dialogue. The result is shown
below:

The option Delete variables produces the following dialogue:

To delete functions x1 and x2 we enter those names in the dialogue. The result is shown
below:

An alternative way to delete user-defined functions or variables is to use function kill. This
function basically clears any value or definition associated with a variable or function
name. For example, to clear the contents of variable y1, use:

Check that the value of y1 is cleared:

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Creating a batch file
In an earlier exercise we saved a file called myFirstMaximaSession.wxm. In this section we
will show you how to create a Maxima batch file out of your saved session.

In order to create a batch file we need to edit the session file using a text editor. In this
example I will use the Notepad++ text editor to open the session file. Notepad++ is
available at

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm .

When opened with Notepad ++, the file myFirstMaximaSession.wxm looks as follows:

Notice that you are warned in the very first line of the file to not edit the file by hand.
This is for the wmx file. If you change anything in the file it may not be readable by
wxMaxima again. The way to proceed is to save the file as a batch file, with the .mac
suffix. Save it, for example, as myFirstMaximaBatchFile.mac, and edit it to look as shown
below. This is the batch file that includes a number of comment lines (text between /*
and */), and Maxima commands.

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To load a batch file use the menu item File > Batch file, and select the proper file to load.
The result of the batch file operation will be shown in your wxMaxima window. Notice,
however, that the comment lines are not shown in the wxMaxima window. If you want to
show explanatory text from your batch file, you may want to replace the comments by a
string, making sure that the string ends in a dollar sign ($) rather than in a semi-colon (;).

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With theses changes, the output in the wxMaxima is now well documented, although the
comment strings are now part of the input (with no output), rather than inserted text.
Part of the output from the batch file is shown below:

A batch file can also be created from scratch. Simply type the Maxima commands in a text
file and save it with the suffix .mac. Here is an example of a batch file created from
scratch:

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Important basic functions
This section addresses a few basic functions and operators of general application in
mathematical functions and that were not addressed in any of the previous sections.

Evaluation or not evaluation of an operation

In many of the examples presented above related to differential equations we use an
apostrophe (') in front of the derivative operator, diff, in order to avoid its evaluation. To
illustrate the difference between the entry 'diff and diff, see the following example:

In the first expression, using 'diff(x,t,2) produces as output the derivative thus indicated.
However, in the second expression, Maxima evaluates the required derivatives. Since
function x(t) has not been defined, the derivatives in the second expression evaluate to
zero, and the result is x = e-t.

The following example shows an non-evaluated integral:

An example of a summation is shown next:

Applications of ev
Function ev evaluates an expression in a given environment determined by a number of
arguments. For complete information on function ev, use the menu item Help > Describe,
and enter the name ev in the dialogue form. In this document we will present only some
specific examples of the use of function ev.

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 Substituting constants in an equation before solving it:

Force floating-point evaluation of rational numbers:

Force derivative calculation after result has been suppressed:

Derivative and integral calculations can be forced with the option nouns:

These examples illustrates how to list an expression and their evaluation in the same
line. It also introduces the idea of nouns in Maxima evaluation.

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Nouns and verbs
To understand the use of the argument nouns in the examples above, please open the
Maxima Manual, available through the menu item Help > Maxima help, and find section
6.3 Nouns and verbs in the Contents tab, as shown in the figure below.

Read this section in the Manual to understand the idea of verbs and nouns, as well how to
convert form one to the other.

Online help
In an earlier section we presented the different options available in the Help menu. A
quick way to obtain help is by using the ?? operator. For example, if you are interested in
finding information about the function eval, use:

Maxima reply by listing a number of entries that include the particle eval, and requesting
additional input from the user. At this point, the user can enter a particular number
referring to the 7 options listed, or enter the particles all or none. Enter none to stop the
online help process.

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The following is another example related to the function integrate.

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