                                                       Release date 2-8-97
                         Polynomial Program Readme

This is a program that I wrote long ago on the Apple IIe.  At the time I
didn't have the money to buy a math program that would manipulate polynomials
(I was just a kid), so I decided to write one of my own. I have been busy
porting it over to a PC compatible format off and on during the last few
months.

The user input routines and the menu routines are from code provided by my
roommate:  William Black.  Please see his website at: 
http://www.primenet.com/~schmong
It chronicles development of an operating system on an x86 compatible that he
is writing from scratch in assembly.

The explanation in this program should be sufficient to explain how to use it.
With this release, you can: add, subtract, multiply and divide two
polynomials.  You can also raise a polynomial to a power, and substitute a
polynomial into another.

What's new with release 0.2:

New features have been implemented that: find the value, derivative, integral,
save the polynomials to a file, load the polynomials from a file, export them
to a file that other programs can use and input a polynomial by specifying its
roots, and by generating a random polynomial.  The user input routines have
also been greatly improved.  You can also now toggle to a 50 row display from
the 25 row display by pressing F4.  This helps in seeing more of the output
of the screen.  Caution: Do not shell out to dos while you are in 50 column
display mode, if you do, when you exit the program, the dos shell will stay in
50 column mode.  A better method will be implemented shortly.

More transparent changes: I have reduced the requirement of saving strings in
most ways, thereby allowing the user to input larger polynomials and higher
degree polynomials.  You can now input a polynomail of degree 50.

In future releases I will implement graphing polynomials, and finding
roots using a multiplicity of methods.

This program is FREEware, so feel FREE to distribute it to anyone who wants
it as long as no one profits from it.

Please E-Mail me the description of any errors or bugs you find in using
this program, hopefully it will prove useful to some.
Contact Chris Katscher at schmong@primenet.com.

This zip file should contain the following files:

Name              Size   Description
file_id.diz        220   A short description of the source file
poly02.exe     119,330   The polynomial program
polymenu.dat     1,664   The polynomial program menu data file
readme.txt       2,679   This file, the program information file
