Task area 1: Computer Algebra
Mission
Computer algebra systems work with exact computations from various fields within Mathematics. In recent years computations that have previously seemed impossible have now become possible. This does not come without challenges. As the input and output data have now become too large for humans to handle, the resulting computations are run in parallel thus affecting runtime, which can take up to several months. In turn, there is now a need to affirm the accuracy of the results generated and to digest the results of these computations. Thus, the focus of TA1 will be to establish confirmable workflows, data formats and databases for computer algebra ensuring a degree of standardization that is beneficial to developers and publishing companies within the mathematical community.
Both data and software play an increasingly important role in publications in mathematics. A normal paper in mathematics has to adhere to the notation of the respective field and provide the references upon which it builds its results. This is to make sure that it is easily understood by its peers. For a publication containing software or data we aim at providing guidelines and standards to ensure easy understanding and reviewability as well. We will augment this with a multitude of examples over time.
- Guidelines for authors of computer experiments in computer algebra
- Guidelines for refereeing computer experiments in computer algebra
- We are developing methods and data formats for serialization
Software peer review
In order to develop best practices for software peer reviewing of mathematical papers we need to be able to work with journals and conferences to be able to test out the reviewing process in order to see what works and what doesn't. We are therefore willing to work with anyone who would like to experiment with introducing some kind of software peer reviewing process and do this by initially taking over the burden of doing software reviews.
If you are interested in letting us do software peer reviewing for you, please contact Jeroen Hanselman.
File formats
Runtime systems
We are currently developing a prototype for predefined software environments called MaPS.
