Speaker: Edgardo Cheb-Terrab, Maple and CoLab

Abstract: The "function wizard" is a computational project, sort of a sophisticated assistant regarding the mathematical language. Its main goal is to make varied type of information about each mathematical function available at the tip of our fingers, on the screen, and in a way which is both human readable and re-usable for further mathematical computations. The information requests targeted by the "function wizard" include those we have when we consult mathematical function handbooks but also more elaborated stuff requiring non-trivial computations. The natural framework for such a project is a symbolic computation system as Maple or Mathematica.

In this presentation the current status of the project is described, as well as the challenges it brings regarding organizing the information internally, the math manipulation algorithms required, and possible concrete ways of implementing the participation of the public in the development of the project.