What is Yacas?
Yacas is an open-source computer algebra system written in C++. It provides a flexible environment for symbolic and numerical mathematical computations. Some of the key features of Yacas include:
- Symbolic manipulation of mathematical expressions involving variables, functions, matrices, tensors, etc.
- Numerical evaluation of expressions with arbitrary precision floating point or complex numbers
- Built-in mathematical knowledge covering concepts from basic arithmetic to more advanced topics like integrals, summations, special functions, etc.
- Programming language with a syntax similar to Mathematica allowing users to define new functions and build custom scripts and applications
- Powerful simplification and substitution capabilities
- 2D and 3D plotting with Gnuplot integration
- File I/O, system interface, and connectivity to other languages like Python
- Free and open source software license making it easy to access and customize
Yacas is used in education, research, engineering for purposes like symbolic calculation, numerical simulation, mathematical modeling, data visualization and more. With capabilities comparable to commercial offerings, Yacas provides a no-cost alternative for computer algebra.
PTC Mathcad, Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Maple, Maxima, SageMath, wxMaxima, Calcpad, Julia, Math Notepad, SymbolicC++ are some alternatives to Yacas.