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Symbolic Calculator

Explanation of some of the error messages



"Unmatched brackets"
The number of left and right brackets are not equal.

"Syntax error"
The expression can not be evaluated. Typically this error occures when two operators follow each other, like "2+/3", or an operator is missing like "4i" instead of "4*i"

"Wrong number of arguments"
The function can not be used with the given number of arguments. See the functions reference for details.

"Matrix dimension error"
All lines of matrices must have the same number of elements. For example [1,2;3] is invalid, as only one item is defined for the second row, while two for the first one.

"Operation on incompatible types"
Operations can not always be computed for all kind of operands. For example you can not divide a number by a matrix.

"Invalid assignment"
The symbol "=" appears in a place where it can not be evaluated.

"Symbol expected as argument"
The argument must be a symbol. For example roots(x^2-1,1) can not be solved. roots(x^2-1,x) still can cause this error, if x has a value from a previous assignment. (like x=1, which leads to the former example)

"Matrix expected as argument" , "Argument can not be a matrix"
Matrices can only be used in certain cases, but sometimes they are required. For example det(5) and sin([1,2]) are both impossible to evaluate.

"Expression is too big"
The problem probably can be solved, but the result is way too big and complex to be displayed. You can try to use the approximate key (above the "enter") for numerical evaluation, which usually leads to a more compact result.

"lists can not be further processed"
roots() and div() return more than just a single expression. Because of this they can not be part of a bigger expression, like "div(5,3)+2", as it is not clear which value to use.

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