KAlgebra - A powerful Calculator for KDE 4

KAlgebra is a calculator with symbolic and analysis features that lets you plot 2D and 3D functions as well as to easily calculate mathematical expressions. KAlgebra is part of the KDE Education Project.

When you first open KAlgebra a blank window shows up, this is the main work area for calculus.

Let's get started with a little example of how KAlgebra works, just type:

2+3

Then type Return and KAlgebra will show you the result. So far it's easy.

However, KAlgebra is much more powerful than that, it started as a simple calculator, but now it's almost a CAS.

You can define variables this way:

k:=3

And use them normally:

k*4

And that will give you the result: 12

You can also define functions:

f:=x->x^2

And then use them:

f(3)

Which should return 9.

You can define a function with as many variables as you want:

g:=(x,y)->x*y

The possibilities of defining functions are endless if you combine this withe the piecewise. Let's define the factor function:

fact:=n->piecewise { n=0 ? 1, n=1 ? 1, ? n*fact(n-1) }

Yes! KAlgebra supports recursive functions. Give some values to n, to test it.

fact(5)

fact(3)

KAlgebra has recently started support for symbolic operations, to check it out, just type:

x+x+x+x

x*x

It doesn't work on some complex structures, though. Only basic support so far.

The last thing I'm going to mention about KAlgebra is its support for differentiation.

An example of the syntax:

diff(x^2:x)

Hope you've found this useful.

If you have used KAlgebra, you will have noticed the syntax completion support, which is very helpful.

Another resource that can be useful to learn more about KAlgebra comes with KAlgebra: The Dictionary tab

It contains examples of every function supported by KAlgebra. Maybe the best way to learn how to do things with KAlgebra.

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