Coffeequate

Coffeequate is a computer algebra system for JavaScript. It can manipulate algebraic expressions, and solve and simplify equations.

Features

  • Solve quadratic and linear equations
  • Simplify most algebraic expressions
  • Propagate uncertainties
  • Substitute values (or other expressions) into expressions
  • Handle variables, constants, and symbolic constants (like π or G)

Installation

Coffeequate can be used in three ways: In a <script> tag, with an AMD loader like RequireJS, or with Node.

To use with a script tag, just include coffeequate.min.js:

<script type="text/javascript" src="coffeequate.min.js"></script>
<!-- Use Coffeequate here! -->

This defines a CQ function (with a coffeequate alias) that lets you interact with Coffeequate.

To use with an AMD loader, just specify Coffeequate in your code:

define(["lib/coffeequate.min"], function (CQ) {
// Use Coffeequate here!
});

To use with Node, just install with npm install coffeequate and require it:

var CQ = require("coffeequate");
// Use Coffeequate here!

Basic usage

The CQ function takes strings and returns an Expression object that you can interact with with its various methods. The strings have a simple syntax:

  • + for addition
  • * for multiplication
  • - for negation or subtraction
  • / for division
  • (expr) for parenthesising
  • ** for exponentiation
  • Bare literals like x are treated as variables
  • Literals preceded by a backslash like \G are treated as symbolic constants
  • Numbers like 1 or 3.1 are treated as integers and floats respectively
  • a = b is equivalent to b - a, which is implicitly equal to 0
  • f(x) and myFunction(z) are symbolic functions

For example, we could write the distance between (a, b) and (c, d) like this:

CQ("((a - c)**2 + (b - d)**2)**0.5")

Or we could reproduce Einstein's famous energy-mass equivalence equation:

CQ("E = m * \\c**2")

More information about how to manipulate these expressions is on the usage page.

Building Coffeequate

To build Coffeequate, you need node, npm, CoffeeScript, and cake. Then run

cake configure && cake all

to build.

Testing requires vows. Tests can then be run by executing the files in tests/ with node, e.g.

node tests/expression.js