[tclug-list] Sage math software for Ubuntu - installation error

[Mike Miller]

I just learned about this software from my mathematician son, and I think
it looks like a pretty nice, well-developed system for symbolic math:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_(mathematics_software)

It's using Python and is GPL.

But when I try to install it, I run into trouble. Any ideas about this?:

I'm using the code here for Ubuntu PPA:

http://www.sagemath.org/download-linux.html

Install Sage this way:

apt-add-repository -y ppa:aims/sagemath
apt-get update
apt-get install sagemath-upstream-binary

I ran those three lines, always preceded with "sudo", but the output from
that last line was this:

E: Package 'sagemath-upstream-binary' has no installation candidate

Any ideas? Maybe I need to contact the Sage team about that.

Mike

[Max Shinn]

Post by Mike Miller
I just learned about this software from my mathematician son, and I think

Have you seen wxMaxima? It's an interface to Maxima, and I strongly
prefer it over Sage. Sage is kind of a pain to set up because it runs
in a web browser. Sage runs Maxima anyway for all of the heavy
lifting, so the performance will be about the same.

If you're just looking to try it out, you can always use the Sage
Online Notebook (http://www.sagenb.org/) to start. Then you can
compare it with the easy-to-install wxMaxima (in the repos) and see if
Sage is worth the install. :)

-Max

[Mike Miller]

Thanks, Max. Good idea. I think I have used wxMaxima or Maxima.

Maybe Sage is good for people who like Python. Does it have better
graphs? It seems that Python is pretty good at graph drawing.

Mike

Post by Max Shinn

Post by Mike Miller
I just learned about this software from my mathematician son, and I
think it looks like a pretty nice, well-developed system for symbolic

Have you seen wxMaxima? It's an interface to Maxima, and I strongly
prefer it over Sage. Sage is kind of a pain to set up because it runs
in a web browser. Sage runs Maxima anyway for all of the heavy lifting,
so the performance will be about the same.
If you're just looking to try it out, you can always use the Sage Online
Notebook (http://www.sagenb.org/) to start. Then you can compare it
with the easy-to-install wxMaxima (in the repos) and see if Sage is
worth the install. :)
-Max

[Max Shinn]

Post by Mike Miller
Maybe Sage is good for people who like Python. Does it have better
graphs? It seems that Python is pretty good at graph drawing.

wxMaxima plots 2D and 3D images via gnuplot. It allows rotation,
zooming, etc. by the user in realtime. I haven't tried Sage for a few
years, but I can't imagine it would have this feature considering it's
browser based.

I would probably agree with you that Python users are better able to
appreciate Sage. If I recall correctly, Sage built a Python interface
on top of the Maxima functions, since Maxima uses its own synax.
Though if you're looking for something to actually include in Python
scripts, Sympy is the way to go.

-Max

[Erik Anderson]

Post by Mike Miller
I ran those three lines, always preceded with "sudo", but the output from
E: Package 'sagemath-upstream-binary' has no installation candidate
Any ideas? Maybe I need to contact the Sage team about that.

What does `apt-cache search sagemath` produce?
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[Mike Miller]

Post by Erik Anderson

Post by Mike Miller
I ran those three lines, always preceded with "sudo", but the output from
E: Package 'sagemath-upstream-binary' has no installation candidate
Any ideas? Maybe I need to contact the Sage team about that.

What does `apt-cache search sagemath` produce?

Only this:

cantor-backend-sage - Sage backend for Cantor


Mike

[Erik Anderson]

Post by Mike Miller
cantor-backend-sage - Sage backend for Cantor

I just followed those same instructions and got the following:

erik at host:~$ sudo apt-cache search sagemath
cantor-backend-sage - Sage backend for Cantor
sagemath-upstream-binary - Sage is a free open-source mathematics software
system
sagemath-optional - Some optional packages.
sagemath-source - Sagemath source code and build dependencies and runtime
dependencies, and vim and gedit-plugins
sagemath-glib-schema - Sagemath LiveCD glib schema file
sagemath-livecd - Package to install in a UCK environment when preparing a
Sage Live/Install CD

It looks as if the "apt-get update" step didn't run properly. When you run
that command, do you see it hitting ppa.launchpad.net at all?

-Erik
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