On 7/12/08, Edmond Orignac <edmond.orignac at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> It seems that the commercial Macsyma is using the following notations
> for the exponential integrals:
>
> exp_int(x) for Ei(x)
> sin_int(x) for Si(x)
> cos_int(x) for Ci(x)
> sinh_int(x) for Shi(x)
> cosh_int(x) for Chi(x)
> It may be better to keep Maxima definitions of special functions
> close to those of the commercial Macsyma.
Sorry, I don't see any point to that.
We have little to gain by naming some functions the same,
given that there are many other things that differ.
Also, I'm pretty sure most Maxima users use Maxima alone;
I'm pretty sure there are very few people who could benefit
from stuff being named the same in Macsyma and Maxima.
Finally, I'm very far from convinced that the Macsyma developers did
a better than of naming things than we can do.
We should try to devise some names that are descriptive and clear.
If those happen to coincide with the names chosen by commercial
Macsyma, then that's OK. Otherwise we should forge ahead with a
different naming scheme for Maxima.
FWIW
Robert Dodier