On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 11:32 AM, Matthew Rocklin <[email protected]>wrote:
> I like that you emphasized the utility for numerics, I think that this is > likely to be a selling point for the SciPy crowd. > Yes, this was very intentional. I may need some help gathering up some nice motivating examples if this is accepted. > I think that it's correct to inform the reader about what symbolics are > but I think that the first couple of sentences (which do this) could be > stronger/more direct. Right now they sound conversational. It's not clear > to me how to fix this though. > > > Maybe start with something like "SymPy is a computer algebra system. It > provides easy access to a wealth of automated mathematics that helps > programmers to reason about their problem producing more clear and > efficient numeric solutions." and then go into what symbolics are? > Except not all problems will eventually be numeric (though maybe for this community they are). Also, problem modeling is not the only use of SymPy. I think presenting just that maybe turns away some people who don't care about solving "new problems" in a mathematical sense. For many (most?) people, SymPy is just a really good bookkeeper, which doesn't make stupid sign errors and handles a one-line equation as seamlessly as a 20 line equation. > > I would cut the top bullet point, e.g. > > - Why you should care about symbolic mathematics, even if you are only > interested in doing numerics. > - How symbolic mathematics can help you solve problems more effectively > > I have a pretty cynical view about people when they're reading text though > (perhaps this comes from teaching freshmen :)) As a result sentences that > carry more than one idea seem dirty to me. > OK. I had actually planned to expand all the bullet points to be longer, but I could only think of something to write for the first one :) I did split it out as I did intentionally, though. The thought in my mind was something like: "why should I care about symbolic mathematics" (the person reads), thinks to him/herself "I don't, I just do numeric things", and then the next bullet addresses that exact thought. Here's an updated draft. Comments are still welcome, even if I don't get to them by the deadline. Symbolic computation deals with manipulating mathematical expression symbolically (as opposed to numerically). For instance, representing sqrt(2) without evaluating it is symbolic: representing 1.41421 is numeric. Most software that deals with mathematical expressions symbolically are called computer algebra systems, or CASs for short. SymPy is a computer algebra system written entirely in Python. In this talk, we will look at - Why you should care about symbolic mathematics? - Even if you are only interested in doing numerics, symbolic mathematics can help you to solve your problems more efficiently and effectively. Computer algebra systems can be useful for two main purposes, modeling your problem at a higher level, in order to gain some deeper mathematical understanding, and doing mathematical "bookkeeping", which is preferable to doing things by hand because it avoids mistakes and scales even to mathematical expressions that are too large to handle by hand. - Some of the design decisions that have guided SymPy, such as why we chose Python to write SymPy, and the importance of being able to use SymPy as a library. - How to solve some basic problems in SymPy. - How to interface SymPy with popular numeric libraries, like NumPy. We will also look at how to use SymPy to generate fast C or Fortran code. Additionally, we will look at the most interesting recent developments of SymPy, and will also discuss some of our plans for the future. Finally, we will discuss some of what has made SymPy a success, both as a software product, and as a community. Aaron Meurer > Hope this helps, > -Matt > > > On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 6:01 PM, Aaron Meurer <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Here is the detailed abstract I have so far for a talk for SciPy. Any >> suggestions are welcome. The deadline is April 1 (probably 5 PM central or >> thereabouts). I roughly based it on the matplotlib talk from last year >> http://conference.scipy.org/scipy2013/presentation_detail.php?id=211. >> >> Symbolic computation deals with manipulating mathematical expression >> symbolically (as opposed to numerically). For instance, representing >> sqrt(2) without evaluating it is symbolic: representing 1.41421 is numeric. >> Most software that deals with mathematical expressions symbolically are >> called computer algebra systems, or CASs for short. SymPy is a computer >> algebra system written entirely in Python. >> >> In this talk, we will look at >> >> - Why you should care about symbolic mathematics. Even if you are only >> interested in doing numerics, how can symbolic mathematics help you to >> solve your problems more efficiently and/or effectively? >> - Some of the design decisions that have guided SymPy, such as why we >> chose Python to write SymPy, and the importance of being able to use SymPy >> as a library. >> - How to solve some basic problems in SymPy. >> - How to interface SymPy with popular numeric libraries, like NumPy. >> >> Additionally, we will look at the most interesting recent developments of >> SymPy, and will also discuss some of our plans for the future. >> >> Finally, we will discuss some of what has made SymPy a success, both as a >> software product, and as a community. >> >> Aaron Meurer >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "sympy" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAKgW%3D6K3OmDsdApN%3DOEvFrRQ4ohEQ1npVfwgUsyxd-K-TLaLOA%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAKgW%3D6K3OmDsdApN%3DOEvFrRQ4ohEQ1npVfwgUsyxd-K-TLaLOA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sympy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAJ8oX-EKtRvNmb8SnyAxUaV%3D3m3_%3D2kfe%3D%3DKRsPKj13_bUSBOA%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAJ8oX-EKtRvNmb8SnyAxUaV%3D3m3_%3D2kfe%3D%3DKRsPKj13_bUSBOA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sympy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAKgW%3D6JXc%3D_Dnr8dnzvJP5Zey_Rb5h8DjLMRJJ-XDn_CKDf7fA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
