Maxima is a computer algebra system comparable to commercial systems like Mathematica and Maple. It emphasizes symbolic mathematical computation: algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and much more.

For example, Maxima solves x^2-r*x-s^2-r*s=0, giving the symbolic results [x=r+s, x=-s]. It can also calculate with exact integers and fractions, native floating-point, and high-precision big floats.

Maxima has user-friendly front-ends, an online manual, plotting commands, and numerical libraries. It features its own programming language, and many users have contributed useful packages in various areas over the decades. It is GPL-licensed and largely written in Common Lisp. Executables can be downloaded for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android; source code is also available. An active community maintains and extends the system.

Website: https://maxima.sourceforge.io

Additional add-on packages for Maxima can be found at: https://github.com/maxima-project-on-github/maxima-packages

Features

  • Specialized in symbolic operations but offering numerical capabilities too.
  • Can be accessed programmatically and extended, as the underlying Lisp can be called from it.
  • Complete programming language with ALGOL-like syntax but Lisp-like semantics.
  • Arbitrary-precision integers.
  • Rational numbers of sizes limited only by machine memory.
  • Arbitrarily large floating-point numbers ("bfloats").

Project Samples

Project Activity

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License

GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPLv2)

Follow Maxima -- GPL CAS based on DOE-MACSYMA

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User Reviews

  • If you want advanced math quick: this is it!! And the gui is built with it (X11) no hangups. You should use Mathematica dont waste your time. But if your still wanting it. Maxima-5.47 requires only clisp-2.49 and tk-8.6.12/tclsh gnuplot-5.4.7. Note none of the following have built-in GUI "that work easily" except xmaxima. Open-Octave: extremely difficult "ubu" build (they force use of binary) (good for fft type stuff but no native arbitrary prec) and that's without GUI - the gui build unless very old fltk version impossible. Axiom (redhat) -impossible elf low level fails. Open-Axiom extremely long build, more complicated to use than maxima (u decide)? (but see friCAS (free cas but req's Jupyter which is pipi qt ubu stuffs)). Do not try wxMaxima it's a very hard build take days of code fixes unless you "use ubu's binary" is just frustration and obstruction ++ fails. If you want something for (linux) that's achievable in (a day) works and offers advanced math - Maxima is it. If you need something more extensive (gnutexmacs very complicated or friCAS) but really Mathematica i'd suggest - spend your time on math not build fails and arcane latex'isms.
  • Its very good software, in i use it for wordmat with use Maxima for CAS. But the new M1 macs are not supported, so could this get a fix? - the new macs are the future.
  • Thank you very much for the free open source program!
  • No Debian installer?????
  • maxima-clisp-sbcl-5.43.0-win64.exe so far seems a definite improvement over maxima-clisp-sbcl-5.42.2-win64.exe especially for the specific issues i have compared though they both still have many bugs - in fact one that was not present in maxima 5.31 but the improvements - especially not pasting blank lines for every line feed from pasting from external editor which was such a pain having to take out every other line of blank lines of a long program - over the older versions still outweigh the disadvantage(s) with respect to older versions.
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Additional Project Details

Operating Systems

Linux, BSD, Windows

Languages

English, Portuguese, Spanish

Intended Audience

Science/Research, Education, End Users/Desktop, Engineering

User Interface

X Window System (X11), Win32 (MS Windows), Console/Terminal, Tk

Programming Language

Lisp, C, Tcl

Related Categories

Lisp Data Visualization Software, Lisp Mathematics Software, C Data Visualization Software, C Mathematics Software, Tcl Data Visualization Software, Tcl Mathematics Software

Registered

2000-04-23