Preface (Symbolic Math Toolbox)

Symbolic Math Toolbox

What Are the Symbolic Math Toolboxes?

The Symbolic Math Toolboxes incorporate symbolic computation into the numeric environment of MATLAB^®. These toolboxes supplement MATLAB numeric and graphical facilities with several other types of mathematical computation, which are summarized in following table.

Facility
Covers

Calculus
Differentiation, integration, limits, summation, and Taylor series

Linear Algebra
Inverses, determinants, eigenvalues, singular value decomposition, and canonical forms of symbolic matrices

Simplification
Methods of simplifying algebraic expressions

Solution of Equations
Symbolic and numerical solutions to algebraic and differential equations

Special Mathematical Functions
Special functions of classical applied mathematics

Variable-Precision Arithmetic
Numerical evaluation of mathematical expressions to any specified accuracy

Transforms
Fourier, Laplace, z-transform, and corresponding inverse transforms

Facility	Covers
Calculus	Differentiation, integration, limits, summation, and Taylor series
Linear Algebra	Inverses, determinants, eigenvalues, singular value decomposition, and canonical forms of symbolic matrices
Simplification	Methods of simplifying algebraic expressions
Solution of Equations	Symbolic and numerical solutions to algebraic and differential equations
Special Mathematical Functions	Special functions of classical applied mathematics
Variable-Precision Arithmetic	Numerical evaluation of mathematical expressions to any specified accuracy
Transforms	Fourier, Laplace, z-transform, and corresponding inverse transforms

The computational engine underlying the toolboxes is the kernel of Maple^®, a system developed primarily at the University of Waterloo, Canada and, more recently, at the Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland. Maple is marketed and supported by Waterloo Maple, Inc.

These versions of the Symbolic Math Toolboxes are designed to work with MATLAB 6 or greater and Maple V, Version 5.

The Symbolic Math Toolboxes

There are two toolboxes:

The basic Symbolic Math Toolbox is a collection of more than 100 MATLAB functions that provide access to the Maple kernel using a syntax and style that is a natural extension of the MATLAB language. The basic toolbox also allows you to access functions in the Maple linear algebra package.
The Extended Symbolic Math Toolbox augments this functionality to include access to all nongraphics Maple packages, Maple programming features, and user-defined procedures. With both toolboxes, you can write your own M-files to access Maple functions and the Maple workspace.

If you already have a copy of the Maple V, release 5 library, you can use it instead of the copy of the Maple Library that is distributed with the Symbolic Math toolboxes by changing the path to the library in the MATLAB M-file mapleinit.m. See the reference page for mapleinit to learn how to do this.

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