Not sure if Maxima is the best choice for this

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Robert Dodier <robert.dodier at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> [...] Bear in mind that Maxima has seen various attempts to define
> operations
> on vectors. If you are only doing simple operations such as computing
> linear combinations of vectors, you can probably just represent vectors
> as lists, i.e. something like [x ` lbf, y ` lbf].
>

Thanks a lot, Rupert and Robert for all your ideas, all of them very
helpful.

Regarding vectors, being new to Maxima, I'm not sure what representation
would be best. One common operation all these problems will have is a
system of three linear equations, with three unknowns. There will be three
unknowns, different in each problem, which can be either components or
positions of the forces, while the equations will come from the 2D statics
conditions (ie: zero sum of X forces components, zero sum of Y forces
components, zero sum of momentum at some point).

Some other operations will be done as well, but given that this system of
equations will always arise in all problems, what would be the most
convenient representation for vectors so that the system of equations can
be easily built and solved? If it matters, forces will be defined as a
point of application (a 2D point, with length units in its coordinates) and
as a pair of X-Y force components (with force units).

Thanks again!

ardi