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PARI/GP is a widely used computer algebra system designed for fast computations in number theory (factorizations, algebraic number theory, elliptic curves...), but also contains a large number of other useful functions to compute with mathematical entities such as matrices, polynomials, power series, algebraic numbers etc., and a lot of transcendental functions. PARI is also available as a C library to allow for faster computations.

Originally developed by Henri Cohen and his co-workers (Université Bordeaux I, France), PARI is now under the GPL and maintained by Karim Belabas with the help of many volunteer contributors.

* PARI is a C library, allowing fast computations.
* gp is an easy-to-use interactive shell giving access to the PARI functions.
* GP is the name of gp's scripting language.
* gp2c, the GP-to-C compiler, combines the best of both worlds by compiling GP scripts to the C language and transparently loading the resulting functions into gp. (gp2c-compiled scripts will typically run 3 or 4 times faster.) gp2c currently only understands a subset of the GP language.