On Sun, Apr 03, 2011 at 11:11:53AM -0400, Raymond Toy wrote:
> Daniel> graph, along with the absolute/global minimum and maximum? I'm using the
> Daniel> command line interface...
>
> If you have a symbolic expression, can't you compute the derivative
> and use a numerical method to find the zeroes? You can try solve or
> mnewton or minpack_solve to find the zeroes.
I suppose so, but our course has not covered any of this yet. The other
students are using their CAS calculators to find the min/max for this
reason... So I was hoping there was a similar function in maxima. I'll
run it by my maths teacher and see what he thinks...
> Daniel> 2) When graphing with maxima, what is the best way to choose a suitable
> Daniel> x range for the plot2d argument? Is it possible to mark the major points
> Daniel> of my graphs (tp, min/max, end points, intercepts intersections etc.?)
> Daniel> Is there anyway to permanently set some variables like gnuplot_term so I
> Daniel> don't have to type so many arguments for the plot2d command?
>
> Look at set_plot_option. You can set things like gnuplot_term there.
Will have a look, thanks.
> Daniel> points. The calculator provides a number of how successful the equation
> Daniel> was eg. linear, quadratic or cubic. Is it possible to find the equation
> Daniel> for a set of points with maxima?
>
> Sure, but it looks like there's nothing completely builtin. You can
> do a least-squares fit using lbfgs or minpack_lsquares to produce the
> equation. But you'll have to set up the equations appropriately
> before calling these routines.
OK -- is this the same process outlined by Leo?
Thanks for your help,
Dan