ylfink@water.UUCP (ylfink) (10/28/86)
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
SEMINAR ACTIVITIES
SYMBOLIC COMPUTATION SEMINAR
- Monday, November 3, 1986.
Dr. Joel S. Cohen of the University of Denver will
speak on ``Computer Symbolic Manipulation of Mathemati-
cal Expressions with Partial Derivatives and Linear
Differential Forms''.
TIME: 3:30 PM
ROOM: MC 5158
ABSTRACT
Mathematical expressions involving partial derivatives
and linear differential forms provide a powerful com-
pact language for conveying quantitative relationships
in classical areas such as thermodynamics and fluid
dynamics. In fact, without this language, it would be
almost impossible to comprehend the concepts and logi-
cal arguments which make up these theories. The power
of this language is due to the fact that it readily
conveys in a compact intuitive way the underlying
mathematical and physical processes. Unfortunately,
the compact nature of the language means it is often
used in an unrigorous way which can lead to misunder-
standing and incorrect scientific conclusions.
In this talk, we shall describe the IMPLICIT computer
symbolic manipulation system being developed at the
University of Denver which is able to manipulate in a
rigorous way expressions containing partial derivatives
and differential forms of general functions. The pro-
gram uses the chain rule and implicit and inverse func-
tion theorems from advanced calculus and derives
expressions in terms of a user created functional
environment which describes the abstract relationships
between variables. The program is designed to run with
the MACSYMA symbolic algebra system and is able to
describe its derivations in a textbook like format.
MACSYMA is a trademark of Symbolics Inc.