2.2 Getting Help

Sage has extensive built-in documentation, accessible by typing the name of a function or a constant (for example), followed by a question mark:

sage: tan?
Type:        <class 'sage.calculus.calculus.Function_tan'>
Definition:  tan( [noargspec] )
Docstring: 

    The tangent function

    EXAMPLES:
        sage: tan(pi)
        0
        sage: tan(3.1415)
        -0.0000926535900581913
        sage: tan(3.1415/4)
        0.999953674278156
        sage: tan(pi/4)
        1
        sage: tan(1/2)
        tan(1/2)
        sage: RR(tan(1/2))
        0.546302489843790
sage: log2?
Type:        <class 'sage.functions.constants.Log2'>
Definition:  log2( [noargspec] )
Docstring: 

    The natural logarithm of the real number 2.
    
    EXAMPLES:
        sage: log2
        log2
        sage: float(log2)
        0.69314718055994529
        sage: RR(log2)
        0.693147180559945
        sage: R = RealField(200); R
        Real Field with 200 bits of precision
        sage: R(log2)
        0.69314718055994530941723212145817656807550013436025525412068
        sage: l = (1-log2)/(1+log2); l
        (1 - log(2))/(log(2) + 1)
        sage: R(l)
        0.18123221829928249948761381864650311423330609774776013488056
        sage: maxima(log2)
        log(2)
        sage: maxima(log2).float()
        .6931471805599453
        sage: gp(log2)
        0.6931471805599453094172321215             # 32-bit
        0.69314718055994530941723212145817656807   # 64-bit
sage: sudoku?
File:        sage/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/sage/games/sudoku.py
Type:        <type 'function'>
Definition:  sudoku(A)
Docstring: 

    Solve the 9x9 Sudoku puzzle defined by the matrix A.

    EXAMPLE:
        sage: A = matrix(ZZ,9,[5,0,0, 0,8,0, 0,4,9, 0,0,0, 5,0,0,
	0,3,0, 0,6,7, 3,0,0, 0,0,1, 1,5,0, 0,0,0, 0,0,0, 0,0,0, 2,0,8, 0,0,0,
	0,0,0, 0,0,0, 0,1,8, 7,0,0, 0,0,4, 1,5,0,   0,3,0, 0,0,2,
	0,0,0, 4,9,0, 0,5,0, 0,0,3])
        sage: A
        [5 0 0 0 8 0 0 4 9]
        [0 0 0 5 0 0 0 3 0]
        [0 6 7 3 0 0 0 0 1]
        [1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0]
        [0 0 0 2 0 8 0 0 0]
        [0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8]
        [7 0 0 0 0 4 1 5 0]
        [0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0]
        [4 9 0 0 5 0 0 0 3]
        sage: sudoku(A)
        [5 1 3 6 8 7 2 4 9]
        [8 4 9 5 2 1 6 3 7]
        [2 6 7 3 4 9 5 8 1]
        [1 5 8 4 6 3 9 7 2]
        [9 7 4 2 1 8 3 6 5]
        [3 2 6 7 9 5 4 1 8]
        [7 8 2 9 3 4 1 5 6]
        [6 3 5 1 7 2 8 9 4]
        [4 9 1 8 5 6 7 2 3]

Sage also provides `Tab completion': type the first few letters of a function and then hit the tab key. For example, if you type ta followed by TAB, Sage will print tachyon_rt, tan, tanh, taylor. This provides a good way to find the names of functions and other structures in Sage.

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