1MATHOMATIC(1)               General Commands Manual              MATHOMATIC(1)
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NAME

6       mathomatic - a computer algebra system
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SYNOPSIS

10       mathomatic  [  -abcdehqrtuvwx  ]  [  -s  level:time  ]  [ -m number ] [
11       input_files or input ]
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DESCRIPTION

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.
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23       mathomatic is the main Mathomatic  application  that  does  interactive
24       symbolic-numeric  mathematics  through a simple command-line interface.
25       Readline or editline support is usually compiled into this application,
26       making  it easy to edit input and recall previous input with the cursor
27       keys.  The numeric arithmetic is double precision floating  point  with
28       about  14 decimal digits accuracy.  Many results will be exact, because
29       symbolic math is an exact math, and  because  multiple  floating  point
30       numbers  can  be combined for a single mathematical value; for example:
31       2^(1/3), which is the cube root of 2 exactly.
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OPTIONS

35       -a     Enable alternative colors.  Ansi color mode will be  enabled  in
36              MS-Windows, if this option is specified and color mode is on.
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39       -b     Enable  bold  colors.   Color  mode will be turned on and colors
40              will be brighter if this option is specified.  Same as the  "set
41              bold color" command.
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44       -c     Toggle  color  mode.   This  mode  outputs  ANSI terminal escape
45              sequences to make each level of parentheses a  different  color,
46              for  easier reading.  Requires a terminal emulator that supports
47              ANSI color escape sequences.  If the colors are too hard to see,
48              use the -b option to increase the color brightness.
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51       -d     Set  demo  mode.   Currently this mode only bypasses loading the
52              startup (rc) file, and  ignores  the  pause  command.   It  also
53              allows  using  the  calculate  command without prompting for the
54              values of any of the variables.
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57       -e     Process mathematical expressions and Mathomatic commands instead
58              of  input  files  on  the  shell  command  line,  and then quit.
59              Unquoted space characters are the line separators on  the  Math‐
60              omatic  input that follows this option.  Works similar to enter‐
61              ing it into the Mathomatic main prompt,  except  the  autoselect
62              option  is  turned  off.  Useful for quick command-line calcula‐
63              tions.  The startup messages are not displayed with this option.
64              Follow  this option with "--" so that expressions can start with
65              a minus sign (-).
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68       -h     Display a brief help message listing all of  these  options  and
69              then exit.
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72       -m number
73              Change  the memory size of equation spaces.  It is followed by a
74              decimal, floating point number which  is  a  multiplier  of  the
75              default equation space size.  This allows larger equation spaces
76              so that manipulating extremely large  expressions  will  succeed
77              without  getting the "Expression too large" error.  Specifying a
78              number higher than 100 may make Mathomatic unresponsive.
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81       -q     Set quiet mode.  The startup messages and prompts are  not  dis‐
82              played.   This  is  useful when piping or redirecting input into
83              Mathomatic, because the input won't be displayed, so prompt out‐
84              put  should  be  turned off.  This option does the same thing as
85              the "set no prompt" command.
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88       -r     Disable readline or editline input  processing.   Readline,  and
89              the editline drop-in replacement library, allow line input edit‐
90              ing using the cursor keys, and output  terminal  control  codes,
91              all of which can be turned off with this option.
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94       -s level:time
95              Set  the  enforced security level for the user's Mathomatic ses‐
96              sion.  Level 0 is the default with no security.  Level 1  disal‐
97              lows shelling out (forking).  Level 2 disallows shelling out and
98              writing files.  Level 3 disallows shelling out and reading/writ‐
99              ing  files.   Level  4  is the highest security level and is the
100              same as compiling  with  the  -DSECURE  option.   This  run-time
101              option was created for use on open public servers.  Specifying a
102              colon, then a time in seconds, will time limit  the  application
103              for that session.
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106       -t     Set   test  mode.   Used  when  testing  and  comparing  output.
107              Bypasses loading startup (rc) file, turns  off  color  mode  and
108              readline, sets wide output mode, ignores the pause command, etc.
109              It also allows using the calculate command without prompting for
110              the values of any of the variables.
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113       -u     Guarantee  that  standard  output  and standard error output are
114              unbuffered.  Also echoes all line input if not in quiet  mode  (
115              -q option ).  Useful when piping.
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118       -v     Display program name and version number, then exit successfully.
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121       -w     Set  wide  output mode for an unlimited width output device like
122              the "set wide" command does.  Sets infinite screen  columns  and
123              rows  so that 2D (two-dimensional) expression output will always
124              succeed and not be downgraded to 1D output when it  doesn't  fit
125              in the display area.  Use when redirecting output or with a ter‐
126              minal emulator that doesn't wrap lines.  This mode only  affects
127              2D output.
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130       -x     Enable HTML output mode (which is also valid XHTML).  This makes
131              Mathomatic output suitable for inclusion in a web  page.   Color
132              and  bold  mode  affect  this  mode, allowing HTML color output.
133              Wide output mode is also set by this option, meaning expressions
134              will always be displayed in 2D.
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GENERAL

138       After  any  options,  text  files may be specified on the shell command
139       line that will be automatically read in with the read  command,  unless
140       the -e option is specified.
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142       Mathomatic  is  best run from within a terminal emulator.  It uses con‐
143       sole line input and output for the user interface.  First you  type  in
144       your  mathematical  equations  in standard algebraic notation, then you
145       can solve them by typing in the variable name at the prompt, or perform
146       operations  on  them  with simple English commands.  Type "help" or "?"
147       for the help command, "help examples" to get started.  If  the  command
148       name  is  longer  than  4 letters, you only need to type in the first 4
149       letters.  Most commands operate on the current equation by default.
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151       A command preceded by an exclamation point (such as "!ls") is taken  to
152       be a shell command and is passed unchanged to the shell (/bin/sh).  "!"
153       by itself invokes the default shell, which is specified  in  the  SHELL
154       environment variable.  "!" is also the factorial operator.
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156       Complete  documentation  is  available in HTML and PDF formats; see the
157       local   documentation   directory   or    online    at    "http://math
158       omatic.org/math/doc/" for the latest Mathomatic documentation.
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ENVIRONMENT

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

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

176       Mathomatic has been  written  by  George  Gesslein  II  (gesslein@math‐
177       omatic.org), with help from the Internet community.
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REPORTING BUGS

181       The  command to take the limit of an expression is partially functional
182       and experimental.  All else  should  work  perfectly;  if  not,  please
183       report  it  as  a  bug  to  the  author  or  on  the Launchpad website:
184       "https://launchpad.net/mathomatic".
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SEE ALSO

188       rmath(1), matho-primes(1), primorial(1),  matho-mult(1),  matho-sum(1),
189       matho-pascal(1), matho-sumsq(1)
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