[Maxima] Use of erf(x); read text file; command to display available functions

[Raymond Toy]

Bartlett, Charles S. wrote:
> Why doesn't erf(5) produce a numerical result, whereas sin(.3) or
> gamma(.2) do?
>  
> I am using Maxima 5.12.0.
>  
> It appears that my version is not finding a definition for erf.

Try one of the following:  erf(5.0), float(erf(5)), or "erf(5),numer", 
or variations thereof.

sin(5) returns just sin(5).
>  
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> Can Maxima read a text file containing a column of numbers?

Yes, but I can't remember the functions to do that.  Perhaps read_matrix 
can do it?

>  
>  
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>  
> Is there a function to display available functions - not just those
> defined by a user?

I'm not aware of a simple function to display all available functions, 
but you could do "?? a" which will return all items containing the 
letter "a".

Ray