# Maxima a computer algebra system in Emacs Fermin MF [[!template id=vid src="https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--33-maxima-a-computer-algebra-system-in-emacs--fermin.webm"]] [Download .webm video, 720p, 260MB](https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--33-maxima-a-computer-algebra-system-in-emacs--fermin.webm) [[!template id=vid src="https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--33-maxima-a-computer-algebra-system-in-emacs--fermin.webm"]] [Download prerec .webm video, 720p, 58M](https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--33-maxima-a-computer-algebra-system-in-emacs--fermin.webm) Maxima is a great tool for symbolic mathematics, it has some support for Emacs in the main repository, but is quite outdated and doesn't receive the love I think it should, so a couple of months ago I decide to improve and "modernize" the maxima-mode.el code base. So, I want to talk about the integration with Emacs, the maxima REPL, how some of the main tool for Emacs integrate in maxima-mode and in general show how to start using maxima within Emacs. # Questions ## Q9 Is it is possible to include maxima in org files similar to jupyter notebooks? (Does ob-maxima have support for the :results graphics header argument of org-src blocks?) ## Q8 Are you planning to upstream your package into Maxima? (would be nice :) ## Q7 In which University do you start to use Maxima? ## Q6. Is there support for images in maxima-mode? ## Q5: Is Maxima's syntax a strict infix lisp syntax or are there exceptions and special cases? Yes I mean Maxima itself. ## Q4. Is maxima easy to get into in your opinion? (has its quirks though!, mailing list is usually helpful) ## Q3: Do you plan to amend ob-maxima to support named session for maxima code blocks in org mode (e.g. begin\_src maxima :session **my-maxima**)? (the current implementation supports exactly onesession named **maxima**) ## Q2: how does maxima compare to sagemath in emacs? does maxima have more support because it is written in common lisp whereas sage math is written in python? ## Q1: So I am an avid octave user right now (had a matlab lesson in uni and so I knew the basics and it was easy to get into), what would you say are the advantages of Maxima over Octave as from my understanding they are pretty similar. I would be interested in trying it out but I am not sure if its worth it compared to Octave. (Octave is a matlab "clone", not meant for analytic calculations, more matrix multiplications etc.)