[Phys-L] proofreading the equations

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 08/16/2015 02:17 PM, David Bowman wrote:

> Any tips for better proofreading (other than just evermore
> re-readings prior to sending) would be appreciated.

One thing I find helpful is to use a computer
algebra system to check the work ... something
like Macsyma (or its freeware clone, maxima).
   http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
   or simply: apt-get install maxima

In my experience, such a program will not /find/
the solution to any nontrivial problem, but after
you have found the solution, you can ask it to
retrace your steps ... and it won't make dumb
mistakes.

As a related point:  I experiment with the thing
interactively, but then write all the commands
into a file, so I can re-run the calculation 
whenever I want.  The file serves as documentation
showing /exactly/ what calculation was done, with
demonstrably no missing steps.