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Symbolic Math Toolbox 2.0 makes calculations in MATLAB easy to learn

Easier to use, seamless environment for symbolic and numeric calculations

The Symbolic Math Toolbox 2.0 takes advantage of the object-oriented programming enhancements to MATLAB 5 to provide a unified environment combining symbolic and numeric calculations. The toolbox incorporates the computational kernel of Maple V^® release 4.0, developed by Waterloo Maple Software.

The wave equation, where f(x) is the symmetric initial displacement and g(x) is the antisymmetric initial velocity, is shown here solved by the Symbolic Math Toolbox.

The new version of the Symbolic Math Toolbox introduces symbolic variables that use the same syntax as MATLAB. The new syntax for the sum of two symbolic variables is simply x + y, instead of the old symadd('x','y'), making this new version easier to use.

The Symbolic Math Toolbox provides, in the form of MATLAB M-files, over 100 of the most commonly used symbolic, algebraic, and calculus operations from Maple V. The toolbox is fully integrated into the MATLAB environment and language so that the results of symbolic computations can be evaluated, visualized, and incorporated into MATLAB programs.

Using the Symbolic Math Toolbox, you can perform variable precision arithmetic for computations that require exact control over numeric accuracy. Numeric operations can be evaluated to any number of digits via the vpa command; the number of digits is limited only by computer memory.

The Symbolic Math Toolbox includes access to the full Maple V core library and the Maple linear algebra and integral transform packages. These new features will also be available with the Extended Symbolic Math Toolbox which offers full Maple programming capabilities as well as access to over 20 specialized Maple libraries. Both Symbolic Math and the Extended Symbolic Math Toolboxes include the Maple V 4.0 kernel.

A comparison of Symbolic Math Toolbox syntax for basic arithmetic operations

With Symbolic Math Toolbox 2.0, it is now possible to use familiar MATLAB syntax when solving symbolic expressions; functions such as symmul and symadd are no longer necessary.

Version 2.0 syntax syms t s; G = [cos(t) sin(t); --sin(t) cost(t)] G*G G -- s*eye(2)

Version 1.0 syntax G = sym('[cost(t), sint(t); -sin(t), cost(t))]') symmul(G,G) symadd(G, symmul('s',--eye(2))