Giac/Xcas

Higher Edu - Research dev card
Development from the higher education and research community
  • Creation or important update: 15/02/10
  • Minor correction: 31/03/10
Keywords

Giac/Xcas : the swiss knife for mathematics

This software was developed (or is under development) within the higher education and research community. Its stability can vary (see fields below) and its working state is not guaranteed.
  • Web site
  • System: UNIX-like, Windows, MacOS X
  • Current version: 0.8.5 (stable), 0.9.0 (developpement) - 2/2/2010
  • License(s): GPL - GPL 3
  • Status: validated (according to PLUME), stable release
  • Support: maintained, ongoing development
  • Designer(s): Bernard Parisse (code), Renée De Graeve (documentation)
  • Contact designer(s): bernard.parisse@ujf-grenoble.fr
  • Laboratory, service: Fourier Institute

 

General software features
  • Giac is a C++ library for computer algebra. It is build on C and C++ libraries: PARI, NTL (arithmetic), CoCoA (Groebner basis), GSL (numerics), GMP (big integers), MPFR (bigfloats) and provides algorithms for basic polynomial operations (product, GCD) and symbolic computations (simplifications, limits/series, symbolic integration, sommation, ...). The library can be configured to accept Maple or TI syntax to ease the transition for users of these systems.
  • Xcas is a GUI application interfaced with Giac. It was first a GUI for symbolic computation, then several modules were added: 2-d and 3-d graphics, dynamic 2-d and 3-d geometry (exact or numeric), spreadsheet, programming environment
Context in which the software is used
  • The giac library is the computing kernel of Xcas online and of the CmathOOCas OpenOffice plugin.
  • Xcas is one of the software available for the French agrégation de maths Fiche Plume. Xcas is also used at the University of Grenoble (undergraduate level).
  • Xcas is one of the softwares used by math teachers in French secondary schools, especially for teaching algorithmic. It has been recently translated in Greek and might also be used in Greek secondary schools.
  • giac (commandline interface) is the computing kernel of some LaTeX tools for math teachers in secondary schools (professor, tablor, pgiac).