Math. Js: An Advanced Mathematics Library For JavaScript

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THEME ARTICLE: The Rise of JavaScript 
Math.js: An Advanced 
Mathematics Library for 
JavaScript 
Math.js is a JavaScript library that brings advanced 
mathematics to the web browser and server. The 
case study in this article demonstrates its flexibility by 
extending the library using custom functions to solve 
and optimize a rocket trajectory. Several benchmark 
comparisons with other JavaScript libraries and state-of-the-art mathematics software 
are presented, and the current challenges facing math.js, including performance and 
size, are discussed. 
JavaScript has been around for 21 years now. During most of its early lifetime, it was used only 
to create simple interactive elements in web pages and do basic animations. JavaScript was seen 
as a toy language because of its lack of strict typing and for not being a “true” object-oriented 
programming language.
1
The release of Firefox in 2004 and Chrome in 2008 brought a period of competition among the 
various browser vendors, with each striving to attract more users through new and improved fea-
tures.
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Innovations included drastically faster JavaScript and HTML engines. Over time, web 
design also evolved: the static webpages of the past steadily gave way to rich, fully featured web 
applications. 
In 2009, the development of Node.js revitalized interest in the language by enabling JavaScript 
to run on server platforms as well as in browsers.
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Developers were then able to build full-stack 
applications using a single language on the client and server sides. Innovation didn’t stop there. 
JavaScript can now be used to create crossplatform desktop applications
4
and power Internet of 
Things hardware.
5
It can even be used as a query language for databases.
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These innovations have attracted one of the largest and fastest-growing software communities 
ever seen. The culture is heavily influenced by open-source concepts, including the philosophy 
to “release early, and release often.” This high rate of innovation and “churn” is facilitated by