Maxima 5.44.0 Manual: Introduction to Expressions

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### 6.1 Introduction to Expressions

There are a number of reserved words which should not be used as variable names. Their use would cause a possibly cryptic syntax error.

    integrate            next           from                 diff
    in                   at             limit                sum
    for                  and            elseif               then
    else                 do             or                   if
    unless               product        while                thru
    step

Most things in Maxima are expressions. A sequence of expressions can be made into an expression by separating them by commas and putting parentheses around them. This is similar to the C comma expression.

    (%i1) x: 3$
    (%i2) (x: x+1, x: x^2);
    (%o2)                          16
    (%i3) (if (x > 17) then 2 else 4);
    (%o3)                           4
    (%i4) (if (x > 17) then x: 2 else y: 4, y+x);
    (%o4)                          20

Even loops in Maxima are expressions, although the value they return is the not too useful `done`.

    (%i1) y: (x: 1, for i from 1 thru 10 do (x: x*i))$
    (%i2) y;
    (%o2)                         done

Whereas what you really want is probably to include a third term in the comma expression which actually gives back the value.

    (%i3) y: (x: 1, for i from 1 thru 10 do (x: x*i), x)$
    (%i4) y;
    (%o4)                        3628800

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