Introduction to Maxima

Maxima is a free software package. It can be downloaded from its website, http://maxima.sourceforge.net, where documentation in several languages can also be found.

Maxima is one of the oldest Computer Algebra Systems (CAS). It was created by the MAC group at MIT in the 1960 decade, and it was initially called MACSYMA (Project MAC's SYmbolic MAnipulator ). Macsyma was originally developed for the main-frame DEC-PDP-10 computer that was used in various academic institutions.

In the 1980 decade it was ported to many new platforms and one of its new versions was called Maxima. In 1982 MIT decided to sell Macsyma as proprietary software and simultaneously Professor William Schelter, from University of Texas, continued to develop the Maxima. By the late 1980's other proprietary CAS systems appeared, such as Maple and Mathematica, similar to Macsyma. In 1998, Professor Schelter obtained permission from the Department of Energy (DOE), which had the copyright on the original version of Macsyma, to distribute the source code of Maxima with a free software license. After the death of Professor Schelter in 2001, a group of volunteers was formed to continue the development and distribution of Maxima as free software.

In the case of CAS systems, the advantages of free software are very important. When one method fails or gives complicated answers it is quite useful to have access to the underlying implementation details of the system. Moreover, when our work relies on results obtained from a CAS system, it is important that the algorithms used by that systems are standard, well documented and free from any patents or legal restrictions.