# [SciPy-user] python+maxima+latex for symolic stuff

Ryan Krauss ryanlists at gmail.com
Tue Oct 18 10:00:07 CDT 2005

A while ago I posted a question to this list about how to do symbolic
stuff in open source software.  I have mixed a few tools together and
come up with something I am pretty happy with.  It is still in early
development, but I find it useful and was wondering if it would help
anyone else or if anyone wanted to help me develop it.

Basically, I write a LaTeX input document and when I want to do
algebra I use a new environment:
\begin{maxima}
\parseopts{lhs='\theta_a-\theta_b=\theta_{RA}'}
thr:Gp*v+M/(k+c*s)
\label{thr1}
\end{maxima}

LaTeX never actually sees this environment.   I use python as a
pre-processor for LaTeX.  Python takes out all of the maxima
environments and builds an input script for maxima.  Python calls
Maxima and tells it to run the script python created, saving each
equation to a seperate output file (all very small).  Python then
reads these output files and replaces the maxima environments with
normal LaTeX equation environments with the output from maxima (it may
have been possible to do this in a slightly cleaner way with pipes but
I was originally developing it under windows and I am a hack).

I could package it a little cleaner and include some simple examples
if anyone is interested.

Ryan