Book excerpt: Annotation Your work demands results, and you don't have time for tedious, repetitive mathematical tasks. Sage is a free, open-source software package that automates symbolic and numerical calculations with the power of the Python programming language, so you can focus on the analytical and creative aspects of your work or studies. Sage Beginner's Guide shows you how to do calculations with Sage. Each concept is illustrated with a complete example that you can use as a starting point for your own work. You will learn how to use many of the functions that are built in to Sage, and how to use Python to write sophisticated programs that utilize the power of Sage. This book starts by showing you how to download and install Sage, and introduces the command-line interface and the graphical notebook interface. It also includes an introduction to Python so you can start programming in Sage. Every major concept is illustrated with a practical example. After learning the fundamentals of variables and functions in Sage, you will learn how to symbolically simplify expressions, solve equations, perform integrals and derivatives, and manipulate vectors and matrices. You will learn how Sage can produce numerous kinds of plots and graphics. The book will demonstrate numerical methods in Sage, and explain how to use object-oriented programming to improve your code. Sage Beginner's Guide will give you the tools you need to unlock the full potential of Sage for simplifying and automating mathematical computing. Effectively use Sage to eliminate tedious algebra, speed up numerical calculations, implement algorithms and data structures, and illustrate your work with publication-quality plots and graphics.