Symbolic computation, also known as symbolic mathematics, is a branch of mathematics that deals with the manipulation of mathematical symbols and the study of generalizations of arithmetic in any number system. It is widely used in various fields such as physics, engineering, computer algebra, and more.
Basic Concepts
- Algebraic Expressions: These are expressions that consist of variables, constants, and mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
- Polynomials: An algebraic expression with one or more terms.
- Simplification: The process of transforming an expression into an equivalent expression that is simpler.
- Expansion: The process of multiplying out terms in an expression.
Symbolic Computation Software
There are several software packages that are used for symbolic computation:
- Maple: A powerful mathematical software that is widely used in education and research.
- Mathematica: A computational software program used in scientific, engineering, mathematical, and computing fields.
- MATLAB: A numerical computing environment and programming language.
- SageMath: A free open-source mathematics software system that integrates a number of existing open-source packages.
Example
Here is an example of a symbolic computation using Maple:
restart;
expr := (x+2)*(x-3);
simplified_expr := simplify(expr);
simplified_expr;
This will output:
x^2 - x - 6
Learn More
If you are interested in learning more about symbolic computation, you can visit our Symbolic Computation Tutorial.
Maple Software