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1 @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, |
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2 @c 2005, 2006, 2007 John W. Eaton |
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3 @c |
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4 @c This file is part of Octave. |
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5 @c |
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6 @c Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
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7 @c under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the |
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8 @c Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at |
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9 @c your option) any later version. |
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10 @c |
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11 @c Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT |
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12 @c ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or |
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13 @c FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License |
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14 @c for more details. |
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15 @c |
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16 @c You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
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17 @c along with Octave; see the file COPYING. If not, see |
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18 @c <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. |
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19 |
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20 @node Preface |
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21 @unnumbered Preface |
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22 @cindex contributors |
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23 @cindex history |
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24 |
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25 Octave was originally intended to be companion software for an |
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26 undergraduate-level textbook on chemical reactor design being written by |
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27 James B. Rawlings of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and John |
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28 G. Ekerdt of the University of Texas. |
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29 |
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30 Clearly, Octave is now much more than just another `courseware' package |
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31 with limited utility beyond the classroom. Although our initial goals |
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32 were somewhat vague, we knew that we wanted to create something that |
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33 would enable students to solve realistic problems, and that they could |
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34 use for many things other than chemical reactor design problems. |
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35 |
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36 There are those who would say that we should be teaching the students |
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37 Fortran instead, because that is the computer language of engineering, |
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38 but every time we have tried that, the students have spent far too much |
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39 time trying to figure out why their Fortran code crashes and not enough |
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40 time learning about chemical engineering. With Octave, most students |
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41 pick up the basics quickly, and are using it confidently in just a few |
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42 hours. |
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43 |
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44 Although it was originally intended to be used to teach reactor design, |
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45 it has been used in several other undergraduate and graduate |
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46 courses in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of |
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47 Texas, and the math department at the University of Texas has been using |
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48 it for teaching differential equations and linear algebra as well. If |
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49 you find it useful, please let us know. We are always interested to |
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50 find out how Octave is being used in other places. |
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51 |
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52 Virtually everyone thinks that the name Octave has something to do with |
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53 music, but it is actually the name of a former professor of mine who |
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54 wrote a famous textbook on chemical reaction engineering, and who was |
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55 also well known for his ability to do quick `back of the envelope' |
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56 calculations. We hope that this software will make it possible for many |
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57 people to do more ambitious computations just as easily. |
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58 |
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59 Everyone is encouraged to share this software with others under the |
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60 terms of the GNU General Public License (@pxref{Copying}) as described |
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61 at the beginning of this manual. You are also encouraged to help make |
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62 Octave more useful by writing and contributing additional functions for |
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63 it, and by reporting any problems you may have. |
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64 |
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65 @menu |
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66 * Acknowledgements:: |
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67 * How You Can Contribute to Octave:: |
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68 * Distribution:: |
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69 @end menu |
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70 |
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71 @node Acknowledgements |
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72 @unnumberedsec Acknowledgements |
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73 @cindex acknowledgements |
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74 |
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75 Many people have already contributed to Octave's development. The |
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76 following people have helped write parts of Octave or helped out in |
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77 various other ways (listed alphabetically). |
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78 |
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79 @include contributors.texi |
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80 |
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81 Special thanks to the following people and organizations for |
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82 supporting the development of Octave: |
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83 |
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84 @itemize @bullet |
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85 @item |
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86 The National Science Foundation, through grant numbers CTS-0105360, |
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87 CTS-9708497, CTS-9311420, and CTS-8957123. |
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88 |
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89 @item |
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90 The industrial members of the Texas-Wisconsin Modeling and Control |
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91 Consortium (@uref{http://www.che.utexas.edu/twmcc, TWMCC}). |
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92 |
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93 @item |
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94 The Paul A. Elfers Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering at the |
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95 University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
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96 |
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97 @item |
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98 Digital Equipment Corporation, for an equipment grant as part of their |
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99 External Research Program. |
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100 |
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101 @item |
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102 Sun Microsystems, Inc., for an Academic Equipment grant. |
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103 |
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104 @item |
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105 International Business Machines, Inc., for providing equipment as part |
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106 of a grant to the University of Texas College of Engineering. |
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107 |
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108 @item |
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109 Texaco Chemical Company, for providing funding to continue the |
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110 development of this software. |
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111 |
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112 @item |
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113 The University of Texas College of Engineering, for providing a |
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114 Challenge for Excellence Research Supplement, and for providing an |
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115 Academic Development Funds grant. |
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116 |
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117 @item |
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118 The State of Texas, for providing funding through the Texas |
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119 Advanced Technology Program under Grant No. 003658-078. |
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120 |
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121 @item |
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122 Noel Bell, Senior Engineer, Texaco Chemical Company, Austin Texas. |
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123 |
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124 @item |
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125 John A. Turner, Group Leader, Continuum Dynamics (CCS-2), Los Alamos |
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126 National Laboratory, for registering the @url{octave.org} domain name. |
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127 |
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128 @item |
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129 James B. Rawlings, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, |
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130 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. |
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131 |
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132 @item |
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133 Richard Stallman, for writing GNU. |
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134 @end itemize |
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135 |
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136 This project would not have been possible without the GNU software used |
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137 in and used to produce Octave. |
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138 |
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139 @node How You Can Contribute to Octave |
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140 @unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute to Octave |
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141 @cindex contributing to Octave |
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142 @cindex funding Octave development |
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143 |
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144 There are a number of ways that you can contribute to help make Octave a |
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145 better system. Perhaps the most important way to contribute is to write |
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146 high-quality code for solving new problems, and to make your code freely |
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147 available for others to use. |
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148 |
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149 If you find Octave useful, consider providing additional funding to |
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150 continue its development. Even a modest amount of additional funding |
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151 could make a significant difference in the amount of time that is |
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152 available for development and support. |
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153 |
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154 If you cannot provide funding or contribute code, you can still help |
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155 make Octave better and more reliable by reporting any bugs you find and |
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156 by offering suggestions for ways to improve Octave. @xref{Trouble}, for |
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157 tips on how to write useful bug reports. |
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158 |
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159 @node Distribution |
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160 @unnumberedsec Distribution |
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161 @cindex distribution of Octave |
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162 |
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163 Octave is @dfn{free} software. This means that everyone is free to |
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164 use it and free to redistribute it on certain conditions. Octave is not |
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165 in the public domain. It is copyrighted and there are restrictions on |
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166 its distribution, but the restrictions are designed to ensure that |
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167 others will have the same freedom to use and redistribute Octave that |
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168 you have. The precise conditions can be found in the GNU General Public |
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169 License that comes with Octave and that also appears in @ref{Copying}. |
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170 |
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171 Octave is available on CD-ROM with various collections of other free |
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172 software, and from the Free Software Foundation. Ordering a copy of |
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173 Octave from the Free Software Foundation helps to fund the development |
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174 of more free software. For more information, write to |
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175 |
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176 @quotation |
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177 Free Software Foundation@* |
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178 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor@* |
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179 Boston, MA 02110-1301--1307@* |
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180 USA |
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181 @end quotation |
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182 |
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183 Octave is also available on the Internet from |
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184 @url{ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave}, and additional information is |
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185 available from @url{http://www.octave.org}. |
