[IAEP] Working math graphs/plots

Gary C Martin gary at garycmartin.com
Wed Dec 10 23:25:00 EST 2008


On 11 Dec 2008, at 00:24, Edward Cherlin wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Reinier Heeres <reinier at heeres.eu>  
> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I agree that the plotting functionality is not really well exposed,
>> although help(index) will show you it's available and help(plot) will
>> tell you how to use it. Try plot(sin(x),x=0..360) for example. I'll  
>> work
>> on the exposure of plotting in the next release; suggestions on how  
>> to
>> do this exactly would be welcome.
>
> Just exposing help would go a long way to solving the problem.

Help is already exposed in the hover menu for each toolbar icon. Not  
discoverable enough? Seems Reinier' s Calculate has much more effort/ 
detail put in than any other activity so far.

--Gary

>> The implementation is as basic as it can get: it evaluates an  
>> expression
>> at 100 points between the start and stop range. The internal parser  
>> is a
>> bit slow, but it's pure python and works reasonably well.
>>
>> With a bit of coding we could surely add some functionality to get  
>> data
>> from Measure in there too.
>>
>> I am not inclined to add RPN parsing myself, but patches will of  
>> course
>> be considered.
>
> Would you look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/calcrpnpy/ and tell
> me what you need done to it?
>
>> Regards,
>> Reinier
>>
>> Edward Cherlin wrote:
>>> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 11:18 AM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com 
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10 Dec 2008, at 18:41, Walter Bender wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I haven't looked at it in a while, but what plotting engine is  
>>>>> built
>>>>> inside of the Calculator Activity?
>>>>>
>>>>> -walter
>>>>>
>>>> I think Reinier wrote his own little svg plot generator class  
>>>> called
>>>> plotlib.py.
>>>>
>>>> --Gary
>>>>
>>>
>>> I didn't know about the plotting capability, which will have endless
>>> uses. It is certainly not discoverable.
>>>
>>> Can we feed a segment of a data stream from Measure to Calculate  
>>> as a
>>> named function?
>>>
>>> Why don't we put something like plot(f(x),x=min..max) on the  
>>> toolbar?
>>> Can we provide hints about the functions and syntax anywhere in the
>>> UI? Is there a way to recall and edit an input line? Are there other
>>> functions not exposed in the UI?
>>>
>>> I have a fairly old book called Numerical Analysis on the Pocket
>>> Calculator, which explains how to do all sorts of things that you
>>> might not expect on even the simplest 4- and 5-function devices, and
>>> works on up through the sort of algebraic calculator we have here to
>>> the programmable calculator. Our users will need something like  
>>> this,
>>> to take maximum advantage of the seemingly limited capabilities we  
>>> are
>>> offering them.
>>>
>>> And can we have an RPN mode? I can't tell you how much most real
>>> engineers hate parentheses. We are not doing children any favors by
>>> hiding the more advanced tools.
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Reinier Heeres
>> Waalstraat 17
>> 2515 XK Den Haag
>> The Netherlands
>>
>> Tel: +31 6 10852639
>>
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>
>
>
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