Maxima
by Maxima · Open-source computer algebra system for symbolic and numerical maths
13.7 — BenchRank score out of 100
Screenshots of Maxima
Homepage
Overview
Maxima is a Lisp-based computer algebra system for symbolic and numerical expressions: differentiation, integration, Taylor series, Laplace transforms, differential equations, matrices and tensors. It uses exact fractions and arbitrary-precision numbers, and plots in 2D and 3D. It runs in a terminal, with wxMaxima and XMaxima giving a notebook interface.
- Best for
- Students, researchers and engineers needing symbolic algebra, calculus and plotting on the desktop
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; Maxima is free software licensed under the GPL, with full source code available via GIT.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Symbolic integration, ODEs, Laplace transforms, matrices, tensors
- Exact fractions and arbitrary-precision numeric results
- Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac; full source under the GPL
- 2D and 3D plotting, and an online version to try first
Trade-offs
- The program itself is a terminal REPL; notebook UI needs wxMaxima or XMaxima
- Support and discussion happen on community mailing lists
- Volunteer-maintained descendant of 1960s Macsyma code
- No hosted service, team or collaboration features are described
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
- MCP support
- 0 out of 100
- Documentation
- 0 out of 100
- Agent friendliness
- 41 out of 100
- Changelog
- 0 out of 100
- Marketing site structure
- 50 out of 100
- Operational trust
- 0 out of 100
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
- Openness
- 0 out of 100
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