Valery, I'm glad to hear you're working on the Russian translation.
> My question, do variables <x_1>, ..., <x_n> give pattern variables or
> do they give the formal parameters as Macsyma manual says?
Probably the bit about defmatch should be changed to substitute
pattern argument for pattern variable and pattern variable for pattern
parameter.
I'll put it on my to-do list.
Function arguments are generally called arguments in the reference
manual. The presence of "parameters" here is probably a hold-over
from an era in which arguments were called parameters.
> In my opinion (of non-English speaker) the Macsyma manual is written clearly.
> Can we take the pieces from there to maxima?
No, we can't. Unless the Macsyma manual is released under a GPL-
compatible license or the manual enters the public domain; these
are both very far away at present. (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.)
I don't see the point of that anyway; Macsyma and Maxima can differ
in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. So the easiest way to make an accurate
description of Maxima is to read and/or execute the Maxima code.
best
Robert