Maxima (software)

Maxima (software)
Name	Maxima
Author	William Schelter
Developer	Maxima Group
Released	1982 (derived)
Programming language	Common Lisp
Operating system	Cross-platform
Genre	Computer algebra system
License	GNU General Public License

Maxima (software) is a computer algebra system for symbolic computation, numerical evaluation, and visualization. It descends from a 1980s project originating at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later developed by figures linked to University of Texas at Austin, Princeton University, and other institutions, providing capabilities for algebraic manipulation, calculus, linear algebra, and plotting. The system is distributed under the GNU General Public License and runs on multiple Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows platforms.

History

Maxima traces its ancestry to a 1960s-era project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology that produced a system known as MACSYMA, developed by researchers including Carl Engel, Martin Newell and others associated with the Project MAC initiative. In the 1980s, academic work at institutions such as Stanford University and University of Texas at Austin led to a modernized fork maintained by programmers like William Schelter, who later coordinated community efforts following connections with Yale University and institutions involved in free software advocacy exemplified by Free Software Foundation. The project evolved through collaboration with contributors affiliated with Princeton University, Cornell University, and independent developers, adopting the GNU General Public License to ensure continued public availability and linking with broader movements surrounding GNU Project software.

Features

Maxima provides symbolic algebra features comparable to systems from IBM research and commercial offerings from Wolfram Research and Maplesoft. Core capabilities include simplification, polynomial factorization, symbolic integration and differentiation, and series expansion, with algorithms informed by work from researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. It supports matrix operations and eigenvalue computation used in contexts like studies at California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London, differential equation solving relevant to research at University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich, and arbitrary-precision arithmetic reflecting influences from projects at National Institute of Standards and Technology. Maxima also includes plotting backends inspired by visualization tools developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and numerical routines comparable to libraries used by NASA research teams.

Architecture and Implementation

Maxima's implementation is written in Common Lisp, leveraging implementations such as SBCL, CMU Common Lisp, and CLISP produced by contributors connected to Rice University and Princeton University. Its kernel originated from codebases associated with Project MAC and was adapted and refactored by maintainers influenced by programming language theory from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University. The system interfaces with numeric libraries and plotting utilities that trace design patterns similar to those from Netlib distributions and scientific computing initiatives at Argonne National Laboratory. Modular design allows integration with external systems and interoperability approaches practiced by teams at University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

User Interface and Frontends

Users interact with Maxima via command-line interfaces used in research groups at Los Alamos National Laboratory and teaching contexts at University of Oxford, as well as through graphical frontends inspired by projects at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of Cambridge. Third-party frontends and notebooks provide integration comparable to efforts from Jupyter Project contributors and interfaces similar to those at Wolfram Research and Maplesoft. GUI projects developed by contributors affiliated with University of Washington and independent developers offer plotting windows, code editors, and session management. Integration with editors and environments associated with Emacs and GNU Emacs leverages workflows used by researchers at Harvard University and Yale University.

Applications and Usage

Maxima is used in academic courses at institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Cambridge for instruction in calculus and linear algebra, and by researchers in applied mathematics at Princeton University and ETH Zurich. Practitioners in physics and engineering apply it for symbolic manipulation in contexts related to work at CERN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It supports data analysis and prototyping workflows similar to those used by teams at National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European Space Agency, and is employed in computational projects in chemistry and biology with parallels to research at Max Planck Society institutes.

Development and Community

Development is coordinated by a volunteer community with contributors from academic and industry backgrounds, including developers associated with Free Software Foundation advocacy and academic projects at University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. The project follows collaborative practices similar to those used by contributors to GNU Project software and open-source initiatives at Apache Software Foundation-adjacent communities. Community activities include code maintenance, documentation efforts, and outreach conducted at conferences and workshops frequented by researchers from Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and attendees of meetings at Association for Computing Machinery events.

Category:Computer algebra systems