diff --git a/books/axiom.sty b/books/axiom.sty
index 013d0b7..4665455 100644
--- a/books/axiom.sty
+++ b/books/axiom.sty
@@ -317,6 +317,21 @@
 
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 %%
+%% shows the signature of a lisp function so
+%%   \sig{mkprompt}{Void}{String}
+%% generates
+%%   {\bf mkprompt} : {\bf Void} $->$ {\bf String}
+%% which formats to
+%%   mkprompt : Void -> String
+%% and an index of mkprompt under signatures
+%%
+
+\newcommand{\sig}[3]{% e.g. \sig{thisfunc}{In}{Out}
+{\bf #1} : {\bf #2} $\rightarrow$ {\bf #3}%
+\index{signatures!#1}}
+
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+%%
 %% calls marks a call from this function to another
 %%
 
diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
index 4fb1bcc..6b27e09 100644
--- a/changelog
+++ b/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+20140912 tpd src/axiom-website/patches.html 20140912.01.tpd.patch
+20140912 tpd books/axiom.sty add the sig markup
 20140907 tpd src/axiom-website/patches.html 20140907.01.tpd.patch
 20140907 tpd src/input/Makefile add groeb.input
 20140907 tpd src/input/groeb.input test case for groebner basis
diff --git a/patch b/patch
index 09aaa08..d04f03d 100644
--- a/patch
+++ b/patch
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
-src/input/groeb.input test case for groebner basis
+books/axiom.sty add the sig markup
 
-write some tests for the groebner basis code
+Shows the signature of a lisp function so
+   \sig{mkprompt}{Void}{String}
+generates
+   {\bf mkprompt} : {\bf Void} $->$ {\bf String}
+which formats to
+   mkprompt : Void -> String
+and an index of mkprompt under signatures
diff --git a/src/axiom-website/patches.html b/src/axiom-website/patches.html
index bb24bb7..4a3bbcb 100644
--- a/src/axiom-website/patches.html
+++ b/src/axiom-website/patches.html
@@ -4632,6 +4632,8 @@ books/bookvol10.4 add graphviz package<br/>
 books/bookvol10.3 add SparseEchelonMatrix domain<br/>
 <a href="patches/20140907.01.tpd.patch">20140907.01.tpd.patch</a>
 src/input/groeb.input test case for groebner basis<br/>
+<a href="patches/20140912.01.tpd.patch">20140912.01.tpd.patch</a>
+books/axiom.sty add the sig markup<br/>
  </body>
 </html>