The Computer Algebra Program Maxima - a Tutorial

Preliminary version from Feb 15, 2005; revised Aug 28, 2005.
Distribution is encouraged, comments are welcome and should be mailed to the editor.

Editor: Boris.Gaertner@gmx.net

This tutorial covers the use of Maxima. Apart from own material, it uses - in modified form - material from the homepage http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/wfs of William F. Schelter (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schelter), the late maintainer of Maxima.

Where to Start:

If you do not have a copy of Maxima, but want to have one, you should read the download information. To really understand Maxima, you will have to work with that great program. Installing Maxima is simple, do not hesitate to try it!

For a first try of Maxima, you may wish to try the examples in First Steps with Maxima.

The use of a computer algebra program is not always easy. The beginner feels often a bit helpless when he needs a function to perform a special operation. One has to exercise the use of Maxima to become an expert. It is a good idea to try to solve exercises from textbooks.

Contents

• Download Information
• First Steps with Maxima
• Getting Started
• Symbolic Integration
• Worked Examples:
  • Zeroes of an Univariate Polynomial
  • Trigonometric Transformations
  • Step-by-Step Computation of a Partial Fraction Decomposition
  • A Chapter from Geometry: Planar and Spacial Curves
  • Line Integrals
  • Computation of the Reciprocal of an Irrational Number
  • Polynomial Arithmetic with Rests
  • Ordinary Differential Equations
  • Difference Equations
  • Computation of Limits
  • Computation of Finite and Infinite Sums
• Programming with Maxima
• File Access from Maxima
• Use of Lisp
• Facts about Lisp

Other Resources for Self-Assessment

A script "Maxima Guide for Calculus Students" (in PDF) can be downloaded from the internet page of Moses Glasner: http://www.math.psu.edu/glasner/