Introduction

# 1. Introduction

`Yacas` (Yet Another Computer Algebra System) is a small and highly flexible general-purpose computer algebra system and programming language. The language has a familiar, C-like infix-operator syntax. The distribution contains a small library of mathematical functions, but its real strength is in the language in which you can easily write your own symbolic manipulation algorithms. The core engine supports arbitrary precision arithmetic, and is able to execute symbolic manipulations on various mathematical objects by following user-defined rules.

You can use `Yacas` directly from the web site as a Java applet (it runs inside your browser without needing a connection to a remote server). This means that no additional software needs to be installed (other than a free Java environment if this is not installed yet).

`Yacas` can also be downloaded. The download contains everything needed to create this entire web site. It also contains the files needed to build an off-line version of `Yacas`, a native executable that can run on your computer. This is discussed further in another part of the documentation.

This document describes the functions that are useful in the context of using `Yacas` as an end user. It is recommended to first read the online interactive tutorial to get acquainted with the basic language constructs first. This document expands on the tutorial by explaining the usage of the functions that are useful when doing calculations.