From: "Fraga, Eric" <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk>
To: Leo Butler <Leo.Butler@umanitoba.ca>
Cc: Org Mode List <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: What is the status of ob-maxima.el? Is this a bug?
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2023 14:15:06 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <874jgv8ljr.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <878r68csiu.fsf@t14.reltub.ca> (Leo Butler's message of "Tue, 5 Dec 2023 20:18:34 +0000")
Hi Leo,
On Tuesday, 5 Dec 2023 at 20:18, Leo Butler wrote:
> I think it should be easy to provide this for a few data types (matrix,
> string, maybe list), but I think the conversion from a Lisp sexp to an
> ELisp sexp will need a lot of assumptions. E.g. how to convert the
> Maxima list:
>
> [[a,b],[c,d,[e,f]]]
>
> Or maybe such cases are not important?
Good question. I am not sure what the best approach would be. My own
use case often does involve results which are vectors of vectors of
values or expressions (solutions to system of equations). I typically
simply output directly using either print or grind, as in
#+begin_src maxima :results output
for i: 1 thru length(solution[1])
do grind(solution[1][i])$
#+end_src
where "solution" is the result of the computation in my (elided) example
and I only care about the first solution. I haven't really thought
about how the final "value" should be output. I'm happy to explore
alternatives.
> Also, what would we do with an arbitrary mathematical expression? Return
> a printed representation?
This might actually be the easiest, of course.
> Developing a working session for maxima would make it more feasible to
> use it directly in text, as you are using Calc.
It would indeed be more feasible but not necessarily a benefit (to me),
as such.
I use Calc for pedagogical aspects, showing step by step calculations,
and it has some benefits over Maxima for this, especially for
engineering topics because it "understands" units (e.g. kg, J, m^2).
Further, I have total control of the formatting by having defined my own
embedded Calc format, lines that start with #+calc: which I can
interpret during the export process in org.
I use maxima to solve more detailed problems so that students can see
the outcome of the algebra to compare with their own work.
And there's the psychological/philosophical benefit of doing everything
I can in Emacs itself! :-)
But, having said that, consistency in the tools used is beneficial so
doing step by step calculations with maxima instead of Calc could be a
good thing for the students. It would be nice to have that option.
Thank you,
eric
--
: Eric S Fraga, with org release_9.6.7-661-g34ee6f in Emacs 30.0.50
prev parent reply other threads:[~2023-12-06 14:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2023-12-05 1:41 What is the status of ob-maxima.el? Is this a bug? Eduardo Ochs
2023-12-05 10:36 ` Fraga, Eric
2023-12-05 11:34 ` Eduardo Ochs
2023-12-05 13:22 ` Fraga, Eric
2023-12-05 16:42 ` Leo Butler
2023-12-05 16:49 ` Fraga, Eric
2023-12-05 16:59 ` Leo Butler
2023-12-05 17:16 ` Fraga, Eric
2023-12-05 20:18 ` Leo Butler
2023-12-06 14:15 ` Fraga, Eric [this message]
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