THE THIRD FACE OF COMPUTER "COMPUTER SOLUTION OF SYMBOLIC PROBLEMS"

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor,Dpt.of Astronomy and Meteorology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Guiza, Egypt.

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to bring to the atten-tion of scientists and engineers the existence of systems capable of performing algebraic (non-numerical) and symbolic computations. These systems have been in use successfully in a number of fields such as: Relativity, Celestial-Mechanics, Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Quantum Electrodynamics High Energy Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology. A brief review and comparison of several systems is given. The use of algebraic computing to solve diverse problems in scientific research is shown. To illustrate the use of such systems, an example of general interest to potential users is being discussed. That is the use of the algebraic manipulation language REDUCE 2 to write a program for coordinate transformations. Input, output, and the structure of the program are being discussed. A copy of the program together with a sample of its results are presented.