RASCAL(1)

NAME
Rascal - the Advanced Scientific CALculator

SYNOPSIS
rascal [-hqn] [--h(elp)] [-e <expression> ] [--e(valuate) <expression> ] [--q(uiet)] [--n(orc)] [--v(ersion)] [--l(icence)] [<file> ...]

DESCRIPTION
Rascal, the Advanced Scientific CALculator, is a platform-independent modular calculator. It is based on modules for supporting its various data types, and it can be easily extended with existing C or C++ code. The available modules are integers, long numbers, doubles, strings, vectors, matrices, complex numbers, Taylor arithmetic (automatic differentiation), and fractions.

OPTIONS

-h, --h(elp)
    Display a help message

-e <expression>, --e(valuate) <expression>
    Evaluate the following expression and quit

-q, --q(uiet)
    Suppress start-up message

-n, --n(orc)
    Do not load rc files

--v(ersion)
    Display version information

--l(icence)
    Display licence information

<file>
    Use content of file as user input

USAGE
After starting Rascal you will find yourself in an interactive user session. At the prompt you can enter expressions that are to be evaluated. You can use the cursor up and down keys to switch to previous commands or press the TAB key once or twice to take advantage of command completion. For more information read the extensive user documentation: gv /usr/local/doc/rascal/rascal.ps

EXAMPLE SESSIONS
Simple expressions:
   >5+2
    7
   >5+2;
   > Variables:
   >MyVariable3=7;
   >MyVariable3*MyVariable3
    49 Functions:
   >Function15(x)=x*x+5*x;
   >Function15(2)
    14 Conditional Expressions:
   >MyAbs(x)=( x>0 ? x : -x);
   >MyAbs(-18)
    18 Iterations:
   >for(x=1;x<=3;x=x+1) 2*x
    2
    4
    6 Vectors and Matrices:
   >A=[1 2;3 4];
   >b=[2;5];
   >A*b
    [12;26]
   >b'*b
    [29]
   >b*b'
    [4 10;10 25]
   >2/A
    [-4 2;3 -1]

FILES
/etc/rascal.rc
/usr/local/bin/rascal.rc
./rascal.rc
    Start-up definitions (definitions of constants like pi, e and imaginary unit i)

/usr/local/doc/rascal/rascal.ps
/usr/local/doc/rascal/rascal.pdf
/usr/local/doc/rascal/rascal/rascal.html
    User documentation, to view it invoke
    gv /usr/local/doc/rascal/rascal.ps

/usr/local/doc/rascal/TEST
    Test suite, to test Rascal invoke
    rascal /usr/local/doc/rascal/TEST

/usr/local/doc/rascal/CHANGES
    Changelog

AVAILABILITY
You may download the latest releases at
http://rascal.sourceforge.net/

BUGS
Send bugs to rascal@ritterbusch.de or use the contact sheet that can be found on the homepage at
http://rascal.sourceforge.net/ and attach the output of the test
rascal /usr/local/doc/rascal/TEST

AUTHOR
Sebastian Ritterbusch <rascal@ritterbusch.de>

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank Davide Angelocola for testing, discussions and spar which can be found at
http://spar.sourceforge.net/

SEE ALSO
bc(1) An arbitrary precision calculator language