Differential equations

[Fernando Pérez]

Luca Bruderer wrote:

> What I would like to say is that I need this function for a python
> script where I have a long equation where practically all parameters change
> during runtime. So I'm not very fond of derive this huge equation and then
> type it in, and I thought if even small pocket calculators with their CAS
> (Ti-92) are able to perfom it, with python there shouldn't exist any
> problem. 

Well, it's not compute-intensive, but the code needs to be written :) And as I 
said, while a symbolic differentiator is not a _fundamentally_ difficult 
problem, making sure that all the details are done right can be tricky. Maybe 
PyGinac will help you, or look into calling one of the existing heavyweights 
from python (Maple, Mathematica, Maxima).

I'd love to see full symbolic capabilities available to python. But with 
limited manpower, I'll be happy to replace IDL/matlab first. Maybe later 
we'll be able to worry about messing with Mathematica :)

Cheers,

f.