In the magazine <>, June 1992, page 119, Mr. Geoff Long reviewed, "SymbMath 1.4 belongs in a more esoteric field, that of symbolic mathematics. If you've ever had need for programs such as Maple or Mathematica, you'll know about symbolic mathematics, also called algebraic computation or symbolic manipulation. SymbMath is a symbolic calculator that can manipulate complicated formulas and return answers in terms of symbols. It solves the same sort of problems as programs like Mathematica, but still runs in 640 K of RAM as opposed to Mathematica's 4 Mb plus. Although SymbMath is still being added to, it has generated interest in the scientific sections of some overseas electronic bulletin boards, being one of the most frequently downloaded programs at some monitored sites". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The <> journal on February 1992, page 76, reviewed "SymbMath, an expert system that solves mathematic problems in symbolic formula or through numeric computation ... requires significantly less RAM than most comparable software - 640 Kbytes, as opposed to as much as 4 Mbytes". --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor G. Long of the <> magazine on 1993 July, page 147, reviewed "SymbMath 2.0 is a symbolic calculator that can manipulate complicated formulas and return answers in term of symbols. It solves the same sort of problems as programs such as Mathematica and Maple (and some that they can't), yet runs within 640K of RAM." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roman Iwaschkin in <>, the June 1993 issue, page 281, reviewed SymbMath as follows. ============================================================================ SUPPLIER: Public Domain and Shareware Library PHONE: (0892) 663298 FOR: Powerful maths functions Automatically learns from user input Modest hardware requirements AGAINST: Needs advanced maths knowledge PCPLUS VALUE VERDICT: xxx -------------------------------------------------------- REQUIREMENTS: DISPLAY: Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA DISKS: 3.5/5.25 MINIMUM HARDWARE: DRIVES: Hard disk, RAM: 640 Kb OPTIONAL HARDWARE: PRINTER: Any -------------------------------------------------------- * Mathematics whizzes should find a capable facility for handling complex problems. , short for Symbolic Mathematics, is both an advanced mathematical calculator and an expert system. Designed by Australian Weiguang Huang for solving university and professional level symbolical maths problems. will also perform exact numerical computation. It's able to manipulate extremely complicated formulae, returning answers in terms of symbols, formulae, or exact numbers as required. The program can learn from your calculations, automatically adding your problem-solving techniques to its repertoire: making it of interest to artificial intelligence researchers as well as mathematicians, particularly as you don't have to write any code. Its capabilities are impressive, going well beyond the facilities offered by rival programs. It's very fast and includes wide-ranging and sophisticated routines for differentiation, integration, equation solving, algebraic calculations, exact and floating point numerical computation of numbers ranging from plus to minus infinity, and an ex- tensive array of other advanced facilities that will be more than enough to handle academic or practical mathematical problems of even extreme com- plexity. Despite this extensive computing power, will nevertheless run on very basic hardware: you need at least 640 Kb of RAM and a hard disk, but an 8088-based PC with a monochrome monitor is ample for even very convoluted calculations. You'll need to be well-schooled in advanced maths but, if you are, you'll will find , well worth investigating. ____________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Arnold on <>, Vol. 18, No. 2, May 1993, page 58, reviewed SymbMath: "An alternative for MS-DOS users which has the unique advantage of being `home grown', SymbMath is the only Australian- made computer algebra system of which I am aware. SymbMath comes in three versions (shareware, student and advanced), with corresponding increases in price and in capabilities. The student version is reviewed here, and was found to be a versatile and useful mathematical tool. Like Maple on Macintosh, mathematical input must be entered in `computer syntax', but SymbMath (like Maple V and Derive) has the option of two- dimensional output, which provides a reasonable approximation of math- ematical notation. Its capabilities are impressive, including a `chemistry' option, in which it performs chemical calculations and operates on chemical equations, and a unique ability to `learn' from the user. Entering a rule for differentiation, for example, automatically `teaches' the program how to integrate using that rule; trigonometric identities and algebraic formulas can likewise be used as the basis for inference. For all its algebraic capabilities, the program has no inbuilt graphics component. Instead, it may be interfaced with another program, called PlotData, from the same author (This also comes in three versions). I found it a little slow in running, since it constantly accesses the disk, and the user must change from Edit mode to Run mode each time a seres of instructions is to be carried out. At the same time, the paired programs provide more than adequate computer algebra capabilities, and represent excellent value for money. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------