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Wxmaxima Cheat Sheet
Wxmaxima Cheat Sheet
● Maxima distinguishes lower and upper case. All built-in functions have names which are lowercase only (sin, cos,
save, load, etc). Built-in constants have lowercase names (%e, %pi, inf, etc). If you type SIN(x) or Sin(x), Maxima
assumes you mean something other than the built-in sin function. User-defined functions and variables can have
names which are lower or upper case or both. srt(XY), Srt(Xy), SRT(xy) are all different.
● To abort a computation without leaving Maxima, type ^C. (Here ^ stands for the control key,so that ^C means first
press the key marked control and hold it down while pressing the C key.)
● The standard quantities e (natural log base), i (square root of −1) and π (3.14159 . . .) are respectively referred to as
%e, %i, and %pi. Note that the use of % here as a prefix is completely unrelated to the use of % to refer to the
preceding result computed.
● In order to assign a value to a variable, Maxima uses the colon (:), not the equal sign. The equal sign is used for
representing equations.
● To enter Object 1
I am finding it necessary to type the following: x^2 + 2*x + 1
BASIC OPERATORS
+ addition
- subtraction
* scalar multiplication
/ division
^ or ** exponentiation
. matrix multiplication
sqrt(x) square root of x.
BASIC OPERATIONS
factor ( )try factor (%). This is assuming that you just entered the above operation.
w:variable ie w:32 will make w = 32, w:5/z will replace w with 5/z
partfrac ( ) returns a fraction broken down into its partial fraction components
To plot, enter your equation, and click the 2d- or 3d-plot buttons and enter your upper and lower bounds.
MATRIX OPERATIONS
Useful Operations