1MATHOMATIC(1) General Commands Manual MATHOMATIC(1)
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6 mathomatic - a computer algebra system
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10 mathomatic [ -bcehqrtuvwx ] [ -s level ] [ -m number ] [ input_files or
11 input ]
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15 Mathomatic is a general-purpose computer algebra system (CAS) that can
16 symbolically solve, simplify, combine, and compare algebraic equations,
17 perform standard, complex number, modular, and polynomial arithmetic,
18 etc. It does some calculus and handles all elementary algebra, except
19 logarithms. Trigonometry and function expansion are supported in a
20 separate program called rmath(1). Plotting expressions with gnuplot is
21 also supported.
22 mathomatic is the main Mathomatic application that does interactive
24 symbolic-numeric mathematics through a simple command-line interface.
25 Readline support is usually compiled into this application, making it
26 easy to edit input and recall previous input with the cursor keys. The
27 numeric arithmetic is double precision floating point with about 14
28 decimal digits accuracy. Many results will be exact, because symbolic
29 math is an exact math, and because multiple floating point numbers can
30 be combined for a single mathematical value; for example: 2^(1/3),
31 which is the cube root of 2 exactly.
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35 -b Enable bold colors. Color mode will be turned on and colors
36 will be brighter if this option is specified. Same as the "set
37 bold color" command.
38 -c Toggle color mode. This mode outputs ANSI terminal escape
41 sequences to make each level of parentheses a different color,
42 for easier reading. Requires a terminal emulator that supports
43 ANSI color escape sequences. If the colors are too hard to see,
44 use the -b option to increase the color brightness.
45 -e Process mathematical expressions and Mathomatic commands instead
48 of input files on the shell command line, and then quit.
49 Unquoted space characters are the line separators on the Math‐
50 omatic input that follows this option. Works similar to enter‐
51 ing it into the Mathomatic main prompt, except the autoselect
52 option is turned off. Useful for quick command-line calcula‐
53 tions. The startup messages are not displayed with this option.
54 Follow this option with "--" so that expressions can start with
55 a minus sign (-).
56 -h Display a brief help message listing all of these options and
59 then exit.
60 -m number
63 Change the memory size of equation spaces. It is followed by a
64 decimal floating point number which is a multiplier of the
65 default equation space size. This allows larger equation spaces
66 so that manipulating extremely large expressions will succeed
67 without getting the "Expression too large" error. Specifying a
68 number higher than 100 may make Mathomatic unresponsive.
69 -q Set quiet mode. The startup messages and prompts are not dis‐
72 played. This is useful when piping or redirecting input into
73 Mathomatic, because the input won't be displayed, so prompt out‐
74 put should be turned off. This option does the same thing as
75 the "set no prompt" command.
76 -r Disable readline input processing. Readline allows line input
79 editing using the cursor keys, and outputs terminal control
80 codes, all of which can be turned off with this option.
81 -s level
84 Set the enforced security level for the Mathomatic session.
85 Level 0 is the default with no security. Level 1 disallows
86 shelling out (forking). Level 2 disallows shelling out and
87 writing files. Level 3 disallows shelling out and reading/writ‐
88 ing files. Level 4 is the highest security level and is the
89 same as compiling with the -DSECURE option. This run-time
90 option was created for use on open public servers.
91 -t Set test mode. Used when testing and comparing output.
94 Bypasses loading startup (rc) file, turns off color mode and
95 readline, sets wide output mode, ignores pause command, etc.
96 -u Guarantee that standard output and standard error output are
99 unbuffered. Also echoes all line input if not in quiet mode (
100 -q option ). Useful when piping.
101 -v Display version number, compilation options used, expression
104 array size, maximum possible memory usage, and security level,
105 then exit.
106 -w Set wide output mode for an unlimited width output device like
109 the "set wide" command does. Sets infinite screen columns and
110 rows so that 2D (two-dimensional) expression output will always
111 succeed and not be downgraded to 1D output when it doesn't fit
112 in the display area. Use when redirecting output or with a ter‐
113 minal emulator that doesn't wrap lines. This mode only affects
114 2D output.
115 -x Enable HTML output mode (which is also valid XHTML). This makes
118 Mathomatic output suitable for inclusion in a web page. Color
119 and bold mode affect this mode, allowing HTML color output.
120 Wide output mode is also set by this option, meaning expressions
121 will always be displayed in 2D.
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125 After any options, text files may be specified on the shell command
126 line that will be automatically read in with the read command, unless
127 the -e option is specified.
128 Mathomatic is best run from within a terminal emulator. It uses con‐
130 sole line input and output for the user interface. First you type in
131 your mathematical equations in standard algebraic notation, then you
132 can solve them by typing in the variable name at the prompt, or perform
133 operations on them with simple English commands. Type "help" or "?"
134 for the help command. If the command is longer than 4 letters, you
135 only need to type in the first 4 letters. Most commands operate on the
136 current equation by default.
137 A command preceded by an exclamation point (such as "!ls") is taken to
139 be a shell command and is passed unchanged to the shell (/bin/sh). "!"
140 by itself invokes the default shell, which is specified in the SHELL
141 environment variable. "!" is also the factorial operator.
142 Complete documentation is available in HTML and PDF formats; see the
144 local documentation directory or online at "http://math‐
145 omatic.org/math/doc/" for the latest Mathomatic documentation.
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149 EDITOR The EDITOR environment variable specifies which text editor to
150 use for the edit command.
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154 ~/.mathomaticrc
155 Optional startup file containing Mathomatic set command options.
156 It should be a text file with one set option per line. Do not
157 include the word "set". For example, the line "no color" will
158 make Mathomatic default to non-color mode, which is useful if
159 you aren't using a standard ANSI terminal emulator.
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163 Mathomatic has been written by George Gesslein II (gesslein@linux.com)
164 with kind help from John Blommers ("http://www.blommers.org") and the
165 Internet community.
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169 The command to take the limit of an expression is partially functional
170 and experimental. All else should work perfectly; if not, please
171 report it as a bug to the author or on the Launchpad website:
172 "https://launchpad.net/mathomatic".
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176 rmath(1), matho-primes(1), primorial(1), matho-mult(1), matho-sum(1),
177 matho-pascal(1), matho-sumsq(1)
178 MATHOMATIC(1)