The problem is that d is a symbol, but it wants a number.  The error message
comes from the engine, which means there's not enough checking at top level.
I'll add a bug report.

> On Jul 25, 2010, at 4:37 PM, David Eisenbud wrote:
> 
> 
> Here's a snippet of code that produces (in v 1.3.1) an error message that I don't understand:
> 
> S = kk[a,b,c]                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
> M = coker matrix"a;b;c"                                                                                                                                                                                                        
> h = presentation M                                                                                                                                                                                                             
> Starget = symmetricAlgebra target h                                                                                                                                                                                            
> Btarget = basis({d,0}, Starget)                                                                                                                                                                                                
> 
> 
> gives:
> stdio:5:11:(3):[0]: error: expected argument 2 to be a sequence of small integers.
