APPLICATIONS OF SYMBOLIC ALGEBRAIC COMPUTATION

This paper is a survey of applications of systems for symbolic algebraic computation. In most successful applications, calculations that can be taken to a given order by hand are then extended one or two more orders by computer. Furthermore, with a few notable exceptions, these applications also involve numerical computation in some way. Therefore, we emphasize the interfaces between symbolic and numerical computation, including: 1. 1. Computations with both symbolic and numerical phases. 2. 2. Data involving both the unpredictable size and shape that typify symbolic computation and the (usually inexact) numerical values that characterize numerical computation. 3. 3. Applications of one field to the other. We conclude that the fields of symbolic and numerical computation can advance most fruitfully in harmony rather than in competition. © 1979.