Editing Theoretical computer science (section)

===Symbolic computation===
{{main|Symbolic computation}}
[[Computer algebra]], also called symbolic computation or algebraic computation is a scientific area that refers to the study and development of [[algorithm]]s and [[software]] for manipulating [[expression (mathematics)|mathematical expressions]] and other [[mathematical object]]s. Although, properly speaking, computer algebra should be a subfield of [[scientific computing]], they are generally considered as distinct fields because scientific computing is usually based on [[numerical computation]] with approximate [[floating point number]]s, while symbolic computation emphasizes ''exact'' computation with expressions containing [[variable (mathematics)|variable]]s that have not any given value and are thus manipulated as symbols (therefore the name of ''symbolic computation'').

[[Software]] applications that perform symbolic calculations are called ''[[computer algebra system]]s'', with the term ''system'' alluding to the complexity of the main applications  that include, at least, a method to represent mathematical data in a computer, a user programming language (usually different from the language used for the implementation), a dedicated memory manager, a [[user interface]] for the input/output of mathematical expressions, a large set of [[function (computer science)|routines]] to perform usual operations, like simplification of expressions, [[differentiation (mathematics)|differentiation]] using [[chain rule]], [[polynomial factorization]], [[indefinite integration]], etc.