1MATHOMATIC(1) General Commands Manual MATHOMATIC(1)
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6 mathomatic - a computer algebra system
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10 mathomatic [ -abcdehqrtuvwx ] [ -s level:time ] [ -m number ] [
11 input_files or 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 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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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.
37 -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.
42 -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.
49 -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.
55 -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 (-).
66 -h Display a brief help message listing all of these options and
69 then exit.
70 -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.
79 -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.
86 -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.
92 -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.
104 -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.
111 -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.
116 -v Display program name and version number, then exit successfully.
119 -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.
128 -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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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.
141 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.
150 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.
155 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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162 EDITOR The EDITOR environment variable specifies which text editor to
163 use for the edit command.
164
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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176 Mathomatic has been written by George Gesslein II (gesslein@math‐
177 omatic.org), with help from the Internet community.
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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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188 rmath(1), matho-primes(1), primorial(1), matho-mult(1), matho-sum(1),
189 matho-pascal(1), matho-sumsq(1)
190 MATHOMATIC(1)