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I would like a computer system that can do algebraic reductions. This is the only thing that forced me to go back to pen and paper. This looks like it does sub

by maire 7y ago

I would like a computer system that can do algebraic reductions. This is the only thing that forced me to go back to pen and paper. This looks like it does substitutions but I didn't see reductions.

petschge 7y ago
Such things exists under the name "Computer Algebra Systems". Notable commercial offerings include Mathematica and Maple, but there is also free software such as Sage and Sympy.
jfarmer 7y ago
This sort of thing is called a Computer Algebra System (CAS) and there are good free ones. https://www.sagemath.org/ https://www.sagemath.org/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ https://www.sympy.org/en/index.html https://www.sympy.org/en/index.html
mb7733 7y ago
How hard have you looked? You'd be hard pressed to find a computer alebgra system (CAS) that doesn't support algebraic reduction. It's been available for decades at this point. Popular systems offering this can do this include Mathematica, Maple and Sage. Even MATLAB had extensions for symbolic manipulation now.
alanbernstein 7y ago
It's probably not a good solution for most people, but here's what I do: I have a TI-89 emulator on my android phone. I used one of those calculators for about six years in high school and college, and I'll never lose the muscle memory of the interface. (I also still own the device, which justifies using the emulator ethically, if not strictly legally.) I believe it's actually faster for me than, say, sympy, which I also use in other contexts. Also faster than using pencil and paper, for sufficiently large problems. If you're not familiar, it uses a CAS called derive which handles algebraic simplification (including trigonometry), differentiation and integration. Oh, and a function called "rref" (reduced row echelon form; familiar to matlab users), which solves a linear system (including symbolically), with absolutely minimal overhead in the "CLI". Now that I say that, I want an actual CLI tool called rref that works in the same way.
carapace 7y ago
Here's something worth investigating, IMO: > PRESS (PRolog Equation Solving System) is a system for solving symbolic, transcendental, non-differential equations. The methods used for solving equations are described, together with the service facilities. The principal technique, meta-level inference, appears to have applications in the broader field of symbolic and algebraic manipulation. https://dream.inf.ed.ac.uk/software/press/ https://dream.inf.ed.ac.uk/software/press/ And: https://github.com/maths/PRESS https://github.com/maths/PRESS > This directory contains a copy of the PRESS ... modified to run on SWI Prolog

by maire 7y ago

I would like a computer system that can do algebraic reductions. This is the only thing that forced me to go back to pen and paper. This looks like it does substitutions but I didn't see reductions.

petschge 7y ago

Such things exists under the name "Computer Algebra Systems". Notable commercial offerings include Mathematica and Maple, but there is also free software such as Sage and Sympy.

jfarmer 7y ago

This sort of thing is called a Computer Algebra System (CAS) and there are good free ones. https://www.sagemath.org/ https://www.sagemath.org/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ https://www.sympy.org/en/index.html https://www.sympy.org/en/index.html

mb7733 7y ago

How hard have you looked? You'd be hard pressed to find a computer alebgra system (CAS) that doesn't support algebraic reduction. It's been available for decades at this point. Popular systems offering this can do this include Mathematica, Maple and Sage. Even MATLAB had extensions for symbolic manipulation now.

alanbernstein 7y ago

It's probably not a good solution for most people, but here's what I do: I have a TI-89 emulator on my android phone. I used one of those calculators for about six years in high school and college, and I'll never lose the muscle memory of the interface. (I also still own the device, which justifies using the emulator ethically, if not strictly legally.) I believe it's actually faster for me than, say, sympy, which I also use in other contexts. Also faster than using pencil and paper, for sufficiently large problems. If you're not familiar, it uses a CAS called derive which handles algebraic simplification (including trigonometry), differentiation and integration. Oh, and a function called "rref" (reduced row echelon form; familiar to matlab users), which solves a linear system (including symbolically), with absolutely minimal overhead in the "CLI". Now that I say that, I want an actual CLI tool called rref that works in the same way.

carapace 7y ago

Here's something worth investigating, IMO: > PRESS (PRolog Equation Solving System) is a system for solving symbolic, transcendental, non-differential equations. The methods used for solving equations are described, together with the service facilities. The principal technique, meta-level inference, appears to have applications in the broader field of symbolic and algebraic manipulation. https://dream.inf.ed.ac.uk/software/press/ https://dream.inf.ed.ac.uk/software/press/ And: https://github.com/maths/PRESS https://github.com/maths/PRESS > This directory contains a copy of the PRESS ... modified to run on SWI Prolog