sonification of math functions?

[Jason White]

Jim Stevenson <jims at eos.arc.nasa.gov> writes:

> Hi.
>
> Does sage or any linux math programs include any sonification of functions?

No, not as far as I know.
>
> Which are the best math programs to write and menipulate algebra formulas?
>
> How about calculous and definite and indefinate symbolic integrals?
>
> How about solving equations?

Your main options (listed in alphabetical order for the sake of
neutrality) are Axiom, Maxima and Reduce.

Axiom and Maxima are packaged by Debian. Reduce was recently released as
free/open-source software, thus it hasn't been packaged as yet.
(http://reduce-algebra.sourceforge.net/).

I haven't investigated these packages in detail other than to confirm
that they all support linear output formats as alternatives to the
spatial output of fractions, superscripts/subscripts etc., which tends
to be the default. Axiom and Reduce can generate TeX output.
Furthermore, Maxima and Reduce have Emacs support. All three systems can
generate graphs.

Sage is an amalgam of other packages, including Maxima, with a Python
interface. The Debian package is very old and out of date.

Disclaimer: the above observations are based on my limited research - I
don't need these tools, so I haven't carried out further investigations.
I have, however, had occasion to answer this kind of question on mailing
lists before, which is why I carried out some basic investigations.