On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 2:46 PM, Conrad Kopernikus <
address@hidden> wrote:
> I need your help! I want to use symbols and undefined variables in octave.
> When I use MatLab I can use the commend syms x. But I can't. When I use x or
> another undefined variable there comes an error. What shall I do? I have
> Ubuntu Salamander - is their any smart line I can write in the Terminal? Or
> any other solution?
>
> Please help me. I just want to use Ubuntu - so it must be Octave or Scilab.
>
> sincerely,
> Conrad Kopernikus
Octave does not currently have the symbolic math capability of Matlab. Matlab's symbolic toolbox uses an embedded Computer Algebra System called MuPAD that it acquired in 2008. this is closed source software, so Octave cannot simply incorporate the same code to create compatible functionality. Recreating this capability is a significant undertaking that has not yet been possible for the Octave team. There is a symbolic math package, but it is far from fully functional with respect to Matlab compatibility.
Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuPADI regularly use GNU Maxima for symbolic math, based on the MACSYMA Computer Algebra System. (if you're familiar with Mathematica or Maple, you'll see similarities). If you require something embedded with Matlab-like computation, i heard there is a maxima plugin for SciLab, but I don't know the details, or if there are any other symbolic options for it.