Algebra.js
Learning and science
algebra library
SHOW HN2015
132points
30comments
#166of 2,565 in 2015
Top 7%of 2015 by points
How HN took it
LovedMost comments that take a side are positive
6 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 1 critical, out of 16 comments about the project. Thread score +0.30.
Docs: 2 for, 0 againstIdea: 1 for, 1 againstDesign: 2 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clean, well-documented API and polished docs
From 3 comments
This is so well done! There are so many little touches here that delights me like the keyboard shortcuts for jumping right in and the LaTeX support. Even though this started off…
kevin on HNthe API is really clear and aesthetic. the whole work seems self contained. it is just awesome. im excited to think about an addition for matrices and combinatorics and calculus…
1arity on HNNice work. I've built roughly half of this before, but your API is cleaner and the docs really tie it together.
ahmacleod on HN
Impressive work for a learning project
From 2 comments
it would be cool to have ``` new CompoundExpression( "x^2 - xy + 5" ) ``` or even ``` new PolishSquarefree("+")("+")("^")("x")(2)("-xy")(5) ``` or even ``` new…
1arity on HNQuintic equations cannot be solved algebraically in the general case. It would require more understanding of algebra by the program whereas I suspect this merely detects the…
Gladdyu on HN
Objections
Cannot solve quintic equations; solving returns undefined
From 1 comment
> I suspect this merely detects the order of the equation and then applies the proper solving formula (Abc for 2nd, Cardano for 3rd). That's exactly right. You could build a…
nicolewhite on HN
Documentation skews toward experienced developers
From 1 comment
This is so well done! There are so many little touches here that delights me like the keyboard shortcuts for jumping right in and the LaTeX support. Even though this started off…
kevin on HN
Requests
Parse string formulas into expressions
From 2 comments
this looks really neat and it must have been a lot of fun to build! it's not a feature request because I don't have a use case for this quite yet, but how complex would it be to…
davmar on HNit would be cool to have ``` new CompoundExpression( "x^2 - xy + 5" ) ``` or even ``` new PolishSquarefree("+")("+")("^")("x")(2)("-xy")(5) ``` or even ``` new…
1arity on HN
Systems of equations and variable elimination
From 2 comments
Nice work Nicole! :-) I work on a similar library for C# (Symbolism [1]). Consider allowing for variable elimination in sets of equations. (See this problem for an example:…
dharmatech on HNThat's very cool. I should definitely add functionality for solving a system of equations.
nicolewhite on HN
Calculus, matrices and combinatorics support
From 2 comments
the API is really clear and aesthetic. the whole work seems self contained. it is just awesome. im excited to think about an addition for matrices and combinatorics and calculus…
1arity on HNAt one point I did have an interactive example on the project page where you could manipulate an expression with a calculator-looking number pad, but after I ran it by a few…
nicolewhite on HN
Questions
How to download the minified file
From 1 comment
Hi does anyone know how to download Algebra.js ? I clicked the "Download .min.js" tab on the Algebra.js.org page but was given this error message :…
CaiGengYang on HN
Alternatives named
math.js
From 1 comment
Thanks! Fun was the main motivation for this project. Parsing strings into expressions is something that math.js offers currently with math.parse and expression trees[0]; I was…
nicolewhite on HN
SymPy
From 1 comment
This seems like a good start towards a symbolic math library like SymPy[0] for JavaScript. There's lots of cool client-side applications for such a library, something like…
joeyrobert on HN
Sage Math
From 1 comment
So it's like an early-stage CAS written in Javascript? E.g. Sage math (http://www.sagemath.org/)
clebio on HN
Mathematica and WolframAlpha
From 2 comments
The algorithm I use in 'EliminateVariables' is pretty ad-hoc and has built up as I throw more situations at it. If you want to look up how the big time guys do it, I believe…
dharmatech on HNThis seems like a good start towards a symbolic math library like SymPy[0] for JavaScript. There's lots of cool client-side applications for such a library, something like…
joeyrobert on HN