- Some minor fixes.

[ginac.git] / doc / tutorial / ginac.texi

diff --git a/doc/tutorial/ginac.texi b/doc/tutorial/ginac.texi
index 28615659a5b71fe6f5f1de956f240730fe924d63..44ee414e4be4c048f49d720df75c0fe005dbd165 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/tutorial/ginac.texi
+++ b/doc/tutorial/ginac.texi
@@ -1300,6 +1300,9 @@ avoided.
 
 @subsection Checking expression types
 @cindex @code{is_ex_of_type()}
+@cindex @code{ex_to_numeric()}
+@cindex @code{ex_to_@dots{}}
+@cindex @code{Converting ex to other classes}
 @cindex @code{info()}
 
 Sometimes it's useful to check whether a given expression is a plain number,
@@ -1311,6 +1314,20 @@ bool is_ex_of_type(const ex & e, TYPENAME t);
 bool ex::info(unsigned flag);
 @end example
 
+When the test made by @code{is_ex_of_type()} returns true, it is safe to
+call one of the functions @code{ex_to_@dots{}}, where @code{@dots{}} is
+one of the class names (@xref{The Class Hierarchy}, for a list of all
+classes). For example, assuming @code{e} is an @code{ex}:
+
+@example
+@{
+    @dots{}
+    if (is_ex_of_type(e, numeric))
+        numeric n = ex_to_numeric(e);
+    @dots{}
+@}
+@end example
+
 @code{is_ex_of_type()} allows you to check whether the top-level object of
 an expression @samp{e} is an instance of the GiNaC class @samp{t}
 (@xref{The Class Hierarchy}, for a list of all classes). This is most useful,
@@ -2411,7 +2428,7 @@ enough to know how to differentiate.  But if the function you want to
 implement does have a pole somewhere in the complex plane, you need to
 write another method for Laurent expansion around that point.
 
-Now that all the ingrediences for @code{cos} have been set up, we need
+Now that all the ingredients for @code{cos} have been set up, we need
 to tell the system about it.  This is done by a macro and we are not
 going to descibe how it expands, please consult your preprocessor if you
 are curious:
@@ -2972,9 +2989,9 @@ AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
 
-AM_PATH_GINAC(0.4.0, [
+AM_PATH_GINAC(0.7.0, [
   LIBS="$LIBS $GINACLIB_LIBS"
-  CPPFLAGS="$CFLAGS $GINACLIB_CPPFLAGS"  
+  CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS $GINACLIB_CPPFLAGS"  
 ], AC_MSG_ERROR([need to have GiNaC installed]))
 
 AC_OUTPUT(Makefile)
@@ -2983,13 +3000,10 @@ AC_OUTPUT(Makefile)
 The only command in this which is not standard for automake
 is the @samp{AM_PATH_GINAC} macro.
 
-That command does the following:
-
-@display
-If a GiNaC version greater than 0.4.0 is found, adds @env{$GINACLIB_LIBS} to 
-@env{$LIBS} and @env{$GINACLIB_CPPFLAGS} to @env{$CPPFLAGS}. Otherwise, dies
-with the error message `need to have GiNaC installed'
-@end display
+That command does the following: If a GiNaC version greater or equal
+than 0.7.0 is found, then it adds @env{$GINACLIB_LIBS} to @env{$LIBS}
+and @env{$GINACLIB_CPPFLAGS} to @env{$CPPFLAGS}. Otherwise, it dies with
+the error message `need to have GiNaC installed'
 
 And the @file{Makefile.am}, which will be used to build the Makefile.