I am happy to announce that version 3.7 of REDUCE is now available for distribution.

This is the first major update since the July 1995 release of REDUCE 3.6. Many bugs and awkward features (including those documented in the patches.red file available from the REDUCE network library) have been corrected. Taken together with the many new packages that have been added, REDUCE 3.7 represents a significant enhancement over previous versions. The organization of the files in this version is quite different from previous releases. The system contains over a hundred packages, each of which is stored in its own directory. This includes source files, documentation, test files and logs. The source files represent the individual modules in a package rather than the whole package as in previous versions, and each module is separately compilable. This makes for much more flexible maintenance of the system.

In addition to the capabilities of REDUCE 3.6, this new version supports, among other things:

1. simplification of indexed objects;

2. tensor simplification;

3. finding conservation laws of differential equations;

4. exterior differential system analysis;

5. extensions of the limits and summation capabilities;

6. sparse matrix calculations;

7. specialized integration of trigonometrical forms;

8. support for first-order logic formulas;

9. computation of comprehensive Groebner bases;

10. calculations with supersymmetric functions;

11. a package for mechanized (plane) geometry;

12. an interface between REDUCE and MathML.

A complete information package is obtainable by sending a message to reduce@rand.org. Further information about this release may also be found on the REDUCE home page at http://www.uni-koeln.de/REDUCE/ . In addition to general information about REDUCE, this page has pointers to the network library, demonstration versions, examples of REDUCE programming, a set of manuals, and the REDUCE online help system.

Tony Hearn

April 30, 1999