FriCAS – an advanced computer algebra system

> In 2007, Axiom was forked twice, originating two different open-source projects: OpenAxiom[3] and FriCAS,[4] following "serious disagreement about project goals".[5] The Axiom project continued to be developed

So FriCas is one of the three main branches of Axiom. But what is Axiom?

> Axiom is a free, general-purpose computer algebra system. [..] which defines a strongly typed, mathematically (mostly) correct type hierarchy [..] and a sophisticated (dependent) type system

> The primary philosophy is that Axiom needs to develop several fundamental features in order to be useful to the next generation of computational mathematicians

This helps make sense of the description of FriCAS

> FriCAS is a general purpose computer algebra system with a strong focus on mathematical research and development of new algorithms

So in summary sounds something that is more aimed to actual mathematicians rather than engineers or other scientists who would be more interested in practical applied methods.

Of the forks, FriCAS on a surface level seems the most alive. Original Axiom had its last release in 2014, but appears to still have some ongoing development. OpenAxiom had last release in 2013 and last commit in 2015, so it feels pretty dead to me. FriCAS meanwhile has had 9 releases since 2014 and at least some activity in GitHub.

http://axiom-wiki.newsynthesis.org/FrontPage

There's a very interesting and insightful commentary from one of the authors here: http://axiom-wiki.newsynthesis.org/PanAxiomCommunity