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Where can I find documentation for table_form?


Motivation

Maxima has a function to display a table.

table_form (makelist (100*(1.05)^n, n, 0, 4));

A table with the numbers 100 to 122

But what if I want a two column table? For instance, it would be nice to show n from the above equation.

table_form (makelist (n,n,0,4), makelist (100*(1.05)^n,n,0,4));
assoc: every list element must be an expression with two arguments; found: [[100.0,105.0,110.25,115.7625,121.550625]]
 -- an error. To debug this try: debugmode(true);

hmm.. what about:

table_form (sconcat (makelist (n,n,0,4), makelist (100*(1.05)^n,n,0,4)));
table_form: the argument should not be an atom.
 -- an error. To debug this try: debugmode(true);

Nope. Time to read the documentation.

? table_form;
  No exact match found for topic `table_form'.
  Try `?? table_form' (inexact match) instead.
false
?? table_form;
false

Ok, maybe google can tell me: site: https://maxima.sourceforge.io/docs/manual "table_form"

...nothing.

It seems I am not the only one: Options for wxmaxima table command

Question

Where can I find information about table_form and can that function print a multiple column table?

As far as I can tell, table_form is not on the Maxima list of functions: https://maxima.sourceforge.io/docs/manual/maxima_377.html#Function-and-Variable-Index


Solution

  • It turns out table_form is specific to the wxMaxima user interface, and it isn't part of Maxima proper. You can get some info about it by going to the Help menu in wxMaxima, or pressing the F1 key (should have same effect), and then using the search feature in the wxMaxima help display to find table_form.

    From the documentation, table_form can display a matrix or nested lists, in order to get multiple columns.