1@menu 2* Documentation:: 3* Functions and Variables for Help:: 4@end menu 5 6@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7@node Documentation, Functions and Variables for Help, Help, Help 8@section Documentation 9@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 11@c SHOULD TALK ABOUT OTHER FORMS OF DOCUMENTATION ASIDE FROM ON-LINE MANUAL. 12 13The Maxima on-line user's manual can be viewed in different forms. From the 14Maxima interactive prompt, the user's manual is viewed as plain text by the 15@mref{?} command (i.e., the @mref{describe} function). The user's manual is 16viewed as @code{info} hypertext by the @code{info} viewer program and as a 17web page by any ordinary web browser. 18 19@mref{example} displays examples for many Maxima functions. For example, 20 21@example 22(%i1) example (integrate); 23@end example 24 25yields 26 27@example 28(%i2) test(f):=block([u],u:integrate(f,x),ratsimp(f-diff(u,x))) 29(%o2) test(f) := block([u], u : integrate(f, x), 30 ratsimp(f - diff(u, x))) 31(%i3) test(sin(x)) 32(%o3) 0 33(%i4) test(1/(x+1)) 34(%o4) 0 35(%i5) test(1/(x^2+1)) 36(%o5) 0 37@end example 38 39and additional output. 40 41@opencatbox 42@category{Console interaction} 43@closecatbox 44 45@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 46@node Functions and Variables for Help, , Documentation, Help 47@section Functions and Variables for Help 48@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 50@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 51@anchor{apropos} 52@deffn {Function} apropos (@var{string}) 53 54Searches for Maxima names which have @var{string} appearing anywhere within 55them. Thus, @code{apropos (exp)} returns a list of all the flags and functions 56which have @code{exp} as part of their names, such as @code{expand}, @code{exp}, 57and @code{exponentialize}. Thus if you can only remember part of the name of 58something you can use this command to find the rest of the name. Similarly, you 59could say @code{apropos (tr_)} to find a list of many of the switches relating 60to the translator, most of which begin with @code{tr_}. 61 62@code{apropos("")} returns a list with all Maxima names. 63 64@code{apropos} returns the empty list @code{[]}, if no name is found. 65 66Example: 67 68Show all Maxima symbols which have @code{"gamma"} in the name: 69 70@c ===beg=== 71@c apropos("gamma"); 72@c ===end=== 73@example 74@group 75(%i1) apropos("gamma"); 76(%o1) [%gamma, gamma, gammalim, gamma_expand, gamma_incomplete_lower, 77gamma_incomplete, gamma_incomplete_generalized, 78gamma_incomplete_regularized, Gamma, log_gamma, makegamma, 79prefer_gamma_incomplete, gamma-incomplete, 80gamma_incomplete_generalized_regularized] 81@end group 82@end example 83 84@opencatbox 85@category{Help} 86@closecatbox 87@end deffn 88 89@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90@anchor{demo} 91@deffn {Function} demo (@var{filename}) 92 93Evaluates Maxima expressions in @var{filename} and displays the results. 94@code{demo} pauses after evaluating each expression and continues after the 95user enters a carriage return. (If running in Xmaxima, @code{demo} may need 96to see a semicolon @code{;} followed by a carriage return.) 97 98@code{demo} searches the list of directories @mref{file_search_demo} to find 99@code{filename}. If the file has the suffix @code{dem}, the suffix may be 100omitted. See also @mrefdot{file_search} 101 102@code{demo} evaluates its argument. 103@code{demo} returns the name of the demonstration file. 104 105Example: 106 107@example 108(%i1) demo ("disol"); 109 110batching /home/wfs/maxima/share/simplification/disol.dem 111 At the _ prompt, type ';' followed by enter to get next demo 112(%i2) load("disol") 113 114_ 115(%i3) exp1 : a (e (g + f) + b (d + c)) 116(%o3) a (e (g + f) + b (d + c)) 117 118_ 119(%i4) disolate(exp1, a, b, e) 120(%t4) d + c 121 122(%t5) g + f 123 124(%o5) a (%t5 e + %t4 b) 125 126_ 127@end example 128 129@opencatbox 130@category{Help} 131@category{Console interaction} 132@category{File input} 133@closecatbox 134@end deffn 135 136@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 137@anchor{describe} 138@fnindex Help 139@deffn {Function} describe @ 140@fname{describe} (@var{string}) @ 141@fname{describe} (@var{string}, exact) @ 142@fname{describe} (@var{string}, inexact) 143 144@code{describe(@var{string})} is equivalent to 145@code{describe(@var{string}, exact)}. 146 147@code{describe(@var{string}, exact)} finds an item with title equal 148(case-insensitive) to @var{string}, if there is any such item. 149 150@code{describe(@var{string}, inexact)} finds all documented items which contain 151@var{string} in their titles. If there is more than one such item, Maxima asks 152the user to select an item or items to display. 153 154At the interactive prompt, @code{? foo} (with a space between @code{?} and 155@code{foo}) is equivalent to @code{describe("foo", exact)}, and @code{?? foo} 156is equivalent to @code{describe("foo", inexact)}. 157 158@code{describe("", inexact)} yields a list of all topics documented in the 159on-line manual. 160 161@code{describe} quotes its argument. @code{describe} returns @code{true} if 162some documentation is found, otherwise @code{false}. 163 164See also @ref{Documentation}. 165 166Example: 167 168@example 169(%i1) ?? integ 170 0: Functions and Variables for Elliptic Integrals 171 1: Functions and Variables for Integration 172 2: Introduction to Elliptic Functions and Integrals 173 3: Introduction to Integration 174 4: askinteger (Functions and Variables for Simplification) 175 5: integerp (Functions and Variables for Miscellaneous Options) 176 6: integer_partitions (Functions and Variables for Sets) 177 7: integrate (Functions and Variables for Integration) 178 8: integrate_use_rootsof (Functions and Variables for 179 Integration) 180 9: integration_constant_counter (Functions and Variables for 181 Integration) 182 10: nonnegintegerp (Functions and Variables for linearalgebra) 183Enter space-separated numbers, `all' or `none': 7 8 184 185 -- Function: integrate (<expr>, <x>) 186 -- Function: integrate (<expr>, <x>, <a>, <b>) 187 Attempts to symbolically compute the integral of <expr> with 188 respect to <x>. `integrate (<expr>, <x>)' is an indefinite 189 integral, while `integrate (<expr>, <x>, <a>, <b>)' is a 190 definite integral, [...] 191 192 -- Option variable: integrate_use_rootsof 193 Default value: `false' 194 195 When `integrate_use_rootsof' is `true' and the denominator of 196 a rational function cannot be factored, `integrate' returns 197 the integral in a form which is a sum over the roots (not yet 198 known) of the denominator. 199 [...] 200@end example 201 202In this example, items 7 and 8 were selected (output is shortened as indicated 203by @code{[...]}). All or none of the items could have been selected by entering 204@code{all} or @code{none}, which can be abbreviated @code{a} or @code{n}, 205respectively. 206 207@opencatbox 208@category{Help} 209@category{Console interaction} 210@closecatbox 211@end deffn 212 213@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 214@anchor{example} 215@deffn {Function} example @ 216@fname{example} (@var{topic}) @ 217@fname{example} () 218 219@code{example (@var{topic})} displays some examples of @var{topic}, which is a 220symbol or a string. To get examples for operators like @code{if}, @code{do}, 221or @code{lambda} the argument must be a string, e.g. @code{example ("do")}. 222@code{example} is not case sensitive. Most topics are function names. 223 224@code{example ()} returns the list of all recognized topics. 225 226The name of the file containing the examples is given by the global option 227variable @mrefcomma{manual_demo} which defaults to @code{"manual.demo"}. 228 229@code{example} quotes its argument. @code{example} returns @code{done} unless 230no examples are found or there is no argument, in which case @code{example} 231returns the list of all recognized topics. 232 233Examples: 234 235@c ===beg=== 236@c example(append); 237@c example("lambda"); 238@c ===end=== 239@example 240@group 241(%i1) example(append); 242(%i2) append([y+x,0,-3.2],[2.5e+20,x]) 243(%o2) [y + x, 0, - 3.2, 2.5e+20, x] 244(%o2) done 245@end group 246(%i3) example("lambda"); 247(%i4) lambda([x,y,z],x^2+y^2+z^2) 248 2 2 2 249(%o4) lambda([x, y, z], x + y + z ) 250(%i5) %(1,2,a) 251 2 252(%o5) a + 5 253(%i6) 1+2+a 254(%o6) a + 3 255(%o6) done 256@end example 257 258@opencatbox 259@category{Help} 260@category{Console interaction} 261@closecatbox 262@end deffn 263 264@c ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 265@anchor{manual_demo} 266@defvr {Option variable} manual_demo 267Default value: @code{"manual.demo"} 268 269@code{manual_demo} specifies the name of the file containing the examples for 270the function @code{example}. See @mrefdot{example} 271 272@opencatbox 273@category{Help} 274@category{Global variables} 275@closecatbox 276@end defvr 277 278