For floating-point calculations, Maxima uses the numerical system of the
underlying Lisp system, which typically uses the arithmetic packages
provided with the underlying implementation language or operating system.
For arbitrary-precision calculations (aka bfloats or bigfloats), the usual
approximations are not useful -- Maxima reduces the range by subtracting
the appropriate multiple of pi, then uses the Taylor expansion.
The full Lisp code (functions fpsin and fpsincos1) is available for
browsing at
http://maxima.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=maxima/maxima;a=blob;f=src/float.lisp;h=b881f47fcb443ee8c0a4a9c2887cf3261f08af06;hb=HEAD
or via git. It is pretty simple if you're comfortable with Lisp, though
some of the details are specific to the big float package.
-s
On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 11:07, Jan Mueller <jan.mueller at math.uni-dortmund.de
> wrote:
> Hi,
> I am just writing an article about how pocket calculators compute values
> of trigonometric functions (especially Volders CORDIC algorithm). I also
> contacted Casio and TI about it but they gave no information because of
> company secrets. Could anyone explain to me how Maxima solves it? sin would
> be sufficient for me
> Jan
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Maxima mailing list
> Maxima at math.utexas.edu
> http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima
>