Install wxmaxima with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• wxmaxima

Project history

wxMaxima emerged in 2004 as a wxWidgets interface to Maxima. Archived Maxima mailing-list traffic from May 2004 has Andrej Vodopivec saying he was working on a wxWidgets interface with source and Linux/Windows binaries, and an October 2004 announcement described a new release with a custom math-output widget, folding, copying of output, Windows 98 support, XP themes, and better GTK2 theme support.

The project was hosted for years on SourceForge, where the wxMaxima project is registered as of December 17, 2004 and is described as a cross-platform GUI for Maxima. SourceForge now notes that the project had moved to GitHub/GitHub Pages by 2019, while the current README says wxMaxima is developed by volunteers.

Adoption history

wxMaxima became a common front end for Maxima because it made a Lisp-based command-line CAS approachable to desktop users, students, and teachers. The current README says wxMaxima is included with the Windows and Macintosh installer for Maxima, while packages are available for many Linux distributions.

Its documentation ecosystem also reflects classroom adoption: the official help page links local and online manuals, translations, 10-minute tutorials, plotting tutorials, calculus material, and user-contributed examples.

How it is used

Users write Maxima commands in worksheet-like cells, inspect formatted 2D mathematical output, create plots inline, and use menus and dialogs for common CAS operations. wxMaxima preserves Maxima's full symbolic engine while providing a more notebook-like workflow around saved documents.

In package-manager terms, wxMaxima is usually installed alongside Maxima and often Gnuplot. It is the GUI layer, not the CAS engine itself, which makes it a thin but important desktop usability package for the Maxima stack.

Why package nerds care

wxMaxima matters because it packages the human interface to one of the oldest free computer algebra lineages. It connects Project MAC/Macsyma history, GPL Maxima stewardship, wxWidgets portability, and distribution-level science software into one small GUI formula.

Timeline

• 1968-1982: Macsyma was developed at MIT's Project MAC.
• 1998: William Schelter obtained permission to release DOE Macsyma under the GPL.
• 2000: Schelter initiated the SourceForge Maxima project.
• 2003-02-10: Maxima 5.9.0 was the first release by the current developer group.
• 2004-05: Andrej Vodopivec announced work on a wxWidgets interface for Maxima.
• 2004-10: A wxMaxima release added a new math-output widget and desktop polish.
• 2004-12-17: SourceForge records the wxMaxima project registration.
• 2019-09-26: SourceForge records the project as moved to GitHub/GitHub Pages.

Related projects

• wxMaxima is related to Maxima, Macsyma, wxWidgets, Gnuplot, computer algebra systems such as Maple and Mathematica, and other notebook-style math front ends.

Sources

• https://github.com/wxMaxima-developers/wxmaxima#readme
• https://maxima.sourceforge.io/docs/manual/index.html
• https://maxima.sourceforge.io/ext/list_archives/2004/msg01018.html
• https://maxima.sourceforge.io/ext/list_archives/2004/msg01975.html
• https://maxima.sourceforge.io/versions.html
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/wxmaxima/
• https://wxmaxima-developers.github.io/wxmaxima/
• https://wxmaxima-developers.github.io/wxmaxima/help.html