How to use NCAlgebra and NCGB on a PC

Note: A current copy of this file can be found on the web http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg/InstallingOnPC.html.

Download and Unzip NCAlgebra and NCGB

  1. Download either Win.zip or NCAlg.zip from the web site http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg. The rest of the instructions here will assume that you have downloaded Win.zip.
  2. Unzip this file into the directory in which you want to install NCAlgebra. (If you do not know how to do this, click here).
  3. You should now have a directory called NC which contains files and subdirectories.

Set Up Path To NCAlgebra

  1. If you have unzipped Win.zip in a directory which is in the Mathematica's path (type $Path in Mathematica to determine this), then you can skip the next steps and move to the section Starting NCAlgebra.
  2. Now you need to set up your path to NCAlgebra so that the NC directory loads automatically. Choose ONE of the following options.
    1. If you are experienced with Mathematica, you can edit your init.m file to add the name of the directory which contains the NC folder to the Mathematica variable $Path.
    OR
    1. You can use our SetUpNCPath.nb notebook to automagically set up the Mathematica's $Path variable. Open this notebook and follow the directions which are found there.

Starting NCAlgebra (Version 3.8 and higher)

  1. Start Mathematica and type
    <<NC`;        (* This reads paths for NCAlgebra and NCGB *)
    <<NCAlgebra`; (* This loads NCAlgebra                    *)
    If this does not work, then go back to set up your path for NCAlgebra.
    (Note: The ` character is a character which is often found on the same key as the tilda (that is, ~) and is not the single quote character.) There should be quite a few statements saying that various files have loaded.

Starting NCAlgebra (Before Version 3.8)

  1. One part of the documentation which is online gives additional detail about how to install older versions of NCAlgebra in unix (the approach is similar for the PC). Click here to see that information.

Testing NCAlgebra

  1. To test the installation of NCAlgebra, start NCAlgebra and then type
    <<NCTEST;

Set Up Paths and Starting NCGB

  1. You do not need to read this section if you want to use NCAlgebra, but do not want to use NCGB.
  2. If you have set up paths for NCAlgebra, the paths for NCGB should be set up also. To run NCGB, first start Mathematica and then type
    <<NC`;   (* This reads paths for NCAlgebra and NCGB *)
    <<NCGB`; (* This loads NCGB and NCAlgebra           *)

    (Note:
    <<NC`;        (* This sets up NCAlgebra and NCGB *)
    <<NCAlgebra`; (* This loads NCAlgebra            *)
    <<NCGB`;      (* This loads NCGB.                *)
    also works.)

Testing NCGB

  1. To test NCGB, first start NCGB and then type TimedGBTest[1,5]. You should see quite a bit of stuff pass by on the screen. When the TimedGBTest command is finished, you should see something which looks like:
    RESULTS::::
    GBtest[1] = True  (oldtime=?? newtime=0:00:00.191150 mmaM:8412880)
    GBtest[2] = True  (oldtime=?? newtime=0:00:00.097872 mmaM:8415880)
    GBtest[3] = True  (oldtime=?? newtime=0:00:00.095502 mmaM:8418592)
    GBtest[4] = True  (oldtime=?? newtime=0:00:00.094189 mmaM:8424272)
    GBtest[5] = True  (oldtime=?? newtime=0:00:00.117072 mmaM:8425760)
    
    Typing TimedGBTest[1,20] runs the first 20 tests.

Running existing NCAlgebra and NCGB Demo Notebooks

The best demos to try are in the NC\work directory. There are also many demos in the NC\NCAlgebra directory. To find these demos:
  1. Find the directory NC\work, NC\NCAlgebra, NC\NCGB\MmaSource with Internet Explorer.
  2. See what notebooks are provided. Determine which files have a suffix of nb and have Demo in their names.

Documentation

  1. If you would like to read some documentation and some more demonstrations, change directories into NC\DOCUMENTATION. This directory is filled with postscript and pdf files which could be viewed if you have installed the appropriate software.
    You can download the software from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/ to view postscript files in windows. You can download the software from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html to view pdf files in windows.
  2. The main document is provided in three different forms. DOCUMENT.pdf and DOCUMENT.ps are in the NC\DOCUMENTATION directory and can be printed (Note: It is over 350 pages long). There is also an HTML version of the document which can be obtained by clicking the "THE BIG DOCUMENT" link on the http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg/ web page or via the download page (which can be accessed via the http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg/ web page). This HTML and PDF versions of the document can be scanned just like any other HTML or PDF document.
  3. In each version of the document, both the table of contents and the index lists all NCAlgebra commands.

Problem Frequently Asked Questions

  1. If you are having trouble getting the LaTeX functionality in NCGB to not work, click here.