I agree. A high-level nintegrate() is sorely missing from
maxima.
The various algorithms/methods can be specified as options,
with one as default.
Again, Mathematica's NIntegrate[] is a good model.
Kostas
Andrej Vodopivec wrote:
>> Well, that's not quite true, is it? You don't want it to try to
>> compute an antiderivative.
>>
>> I think you should rename the function to quadpack_front_end
>> or something less suggestive than nintegrate.
>
> nintegrate implies numerical integration, but it does not imply which
> algorithm it uses (romberg, quad_qag, quad_qags, qaud_qagi). In maple
> I can use evalf(Int(...)) to do numerical integration, I don't need to
> know how it does it. In mathematica NIntegrate[..] does numerical
> integration and I don't need to know how it does it. It is a matter of
> personal choice but I prefer to use names which tell what function
> does instead of how it does something. I prefer realroots to
> whater_algorithm_it_uses. Function names should be suggestive.
>