Hi - Thanks for the information. I don't think that I replied to the whole
list earlier, but there was (I think) another book by Ben-Israel which is
now out of print. I've had a look at the web page in the meantime. You may
also be interested in "Mathematical Analysis in Engineering" by C.C. Mei,
which has an appendix on Macsyma (perturbation methods, but with
introductory material as well) relating to some of the text material.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nikolaos I. Ioakimidis" <ioakimidis at otenet>
To: "David and Michele Holmgren" <holmgrenm@shaw.ca>; "Milan Zimmermann"
<milan.zimmermann@sympatico.ca>
Cc: <maxima@www.ma.utexas.edu>; "Nikolaos I. Ioakimidis"
<ioakimidis@otenet.gr>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 1:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Maxima] Macsyma vs. Maxima, book
>
> Dear Milan,
> Dear Dave,
>
> This is a brief additional response to Milan's two questions.
>
> I have a copy of this interesting book using Macsyma having
> bought it from Springer Wien last summer. Its web page is:
>
> http://www.springer.at/main/book.jsp?bookID=3-211-82924-5
>
> Copy from the content of this web page:
>
> > Ben-Israel, A., Gilbert, R. P.
> > Computer-Supported Calculus
>
> > 2002. XI, 609 pages. 191 figures.
> > Hardcover EUR 65,00
> > Recommended retail prices
> > All prices are net-prices subject to local VAT (exp. Austria 10%,
Germany
> 7%)
> > ISBN 3-211-82924-5
> > Available
>
> > Texts and Monographs in Symbolic Computation
>
> > This is a new type of calculus book: Students who master this text will
be
> well versed in calculus and, in addition, possess
> > a useful working knowledge of how to use modern symbolic mathematics
> software systems for solving problems in calculus.
> > This will equip them with the mathematical competence they need for
> science and engineering and the competitive
> > workplace. MACSYMA is used as the software in which the example programs
> and calculations are given. However,
> > by the experience gained in this book, the student will also be able to
> use any of the other major mathematical
> > software systems, like for example AXIOM; MATHEMATICA, MAPLE; DERIVE, or
> REDUCE, for "doing
> > calculus on computers".
>
> There is a comment that it is available and I believe this is the case,
> since this book has been published last year. I cannot believe it
> is out of print so early, but, naturally, I may be wrong.
>
> Unfortunately, I have not had the time to study the book because
> of several duties. My brief comments so far have as follows:
>
> This book is a serious and interesting book on Calculus, not on
> Macsyma, although it uses Macsyma for all of the symbolic
> computations there and it includes a devoted Appendix:
> Appendix A: Introduction to MACSYMA, pp. 502-526.
> Yet, this appendix is short.
>
> On the other hand, the book contains a very large number
> of Macsyma sessions in all of each chapters, where the use
> and power of Macysma for Calculus problems is perfectly
> illustrated. More explicitly, there are 14 complete Macsyma
> sessions for Chapter 1, 4 in Chapter 2, 8 in Chapter 3,
> 8 in Chapter 4, 3 in Chapter 5, etc., etc. There are also
> some exercises to be done by using Macsyma.
>
> To be sincere, when I ordered this book, I hoped to find
> it much more useful to learn Macsyma, but I have been wrong.
> The actual usefulness of the book is in learning Calculus
> and not Macsyma. For a book with 609 pages, the Macsyma
> sessions included cover a very small amount of the volume
> of the book and they are "lost" among lemmata, theorems,
> proofs, corollaries and many examples having nothing to do
> with Macsyma.
>
> Therefore, for a user of Macsyma, and Maxima of course,
> this book is very interesting revealing its usefulness in Calculus,
> but, naturally, this is not an appropriate book to learn to use
> Macsyma in spite of my expectations. (Yet, as I have already
> mentioned, there is a devoted Appendix: Appendix A.)
>
> With respect to the question on the transfer of Macsyma code to
> Maxima, YES!, this is easily possible in spite of few differences and
> enhancements in the commercial Macsyma. One of these differences
> is that the sign ; at the end of each command is absent. Moreover,
> few commands may have a slightly different syntax (e.g. plot2d in
> Maxima is written as plot2 in Macsyma or contourplot exists only
> in Maxima as far as I know), but these differences are marginal.
> On the other hand, the code in the Macsyma sessions in the book
> is simple and easy to understand, very easy since it is oriented
> towards a student in Calculus.
>
> I can add that I have also bought the following Macsyma book:
>
> Macsyma Tutorial for Calculus, by Richard N. Fell,
> Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1998
>
> but it is too short and elementary that I cannot recommend it
> for study (although I read it completely myself, but without
> much essential gain).
>
> Therefore, my own conclusion as a novice in Maxima
> (and a recommendation to Milan) is to study The Maxima
> Book to the extent this is available (I hope it will be ready
> soon) and for the moment (meanwhile) study also (if possible)
> Macsyma User's Guide of the commercial Macsyma, which
> is sufficiently well written in spite of few errors and restrictions
> to the major commands. (I have the 1988 version.) Next, there
> are the classical Maxima Reference Manuals, but they require
> some more experience.
>
> The conclusion is that the Springer book by Ben-Israel and
> Gilbert is very interesting, but with an emphasis on Calculus
> not Macsyma (and I do not teach Calculus . . .). I believe that
> it can be ordered from the aforementioned Springer's web page,
> since it is a recent book and, moreover, there is the indication
> "available" on this web page. Cost: EUR 65,00, Hardcover,
> plus VAT.
>
> Please, do not hesitate to let me know in case I can send you
> additional information on this book. On the other hand, I would
> also be very happy to hear on additional available books on
> Macsyma hoping that books on (learning) Maxima will also
> appear in a definitive form in the near future.
>
> The Maxima Book already contains much valuable information.
> Perhaps, you may wish to ask for a PDF copy from Cliff.
>
> Best regards from Patras,
>
> Nikos
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David and Michele Holmgren" <holmgrenm at shaw>
> To: "Milan Zimmermann" <milan.zimmermann@sympatico.ca>;
> <maxima@www.ma.utexas.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 8:23 AM
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] Macsyma vs. Maxima, book
>
>
> > Hi - I tried to obtain this from Springer (at least I think they
published
> > it), but it is out of print. At about the same time, I tried some used
> book
> > websites but to no avail.
> >
> > Dave Holmgren
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I am looking for a way to learn Maxima on some "hands on" examples.
> There
> > is a
> > > book
> > >
> > > "Computer-Supported Calculus" by Adi Ben-Israel and Robert P.Gilbert.
> > >
> > >
> >
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/3211829245/qid=1046976456/sr=8
> > -1/ref=sr_8_1/104-2193051-3133532?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
> > >
> > > I would like to ask for commnets on 2 questions:
> > > - Is it typically possible to take Macsyma code and run it in Maxima
> > > - If anyone did see this book, could you comment on how many examples
> > there
> > > are and wherther you find it usefull (I canot really find much detail
> > about
> > > the book and did not find it in a bookstore to check)
> > >
> > > Thanks, Milan
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Maxima mailing list
> > > Maxima@www.math.utexas.edu
> > > http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Maxima mailing list
> > Maxima@www.math.utexas.edu
> > http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima
> >
>
>