Between 1975 and 1985, this group produced the Cayley system for group theory and related areas. Some 18 years of field experience with Cayley provided a starting point for the design of Magma. However, Magma is designed as a general algebra system in contrast to the more limited objectives of Cayley. In addition to providing a vast expansion in its coverage of algebra, Magma currently contains approximately 90 per cent of the group theory functionality of Cayley.
Magma was launched at a conference held at Queen Mary and Westfield College, August 23-27, 1993 and general distribution commenced in December 1993 with the public release of Magma V1. At that time distribution of Cayley ceased. While Cayley and Magma are not compatible, a translator has been written to assist in the conversion of Cayley code to Magma code. The Cayley sites were automatically upgraded to Magma.