[I took this off sage-support, since it's really a development discussion]
On Mar 27, 2008, at 15:47 , John Cremona wrote: > Although Justin's solution certainly works, one might consider adding > a "real_part()" function to the quaternion class. But it would not do > to call the function "real_part" since of course it depends on the > ground field (which in the example is QQ and not RR). > > I am CC'ing sage-devel since this might be worth a ticket, and also to > ask for suggestions as to what the "real part" might be called in > general. I think there is terminology in use for this: scalar: in the ground field/ring pure: reduced trace zero (I think the reduced trace definition works in characteristic 2, but I didn't work out the details). Perhaps the term 'scalar' is a bit confusing, but in any case, how about "scalar_part()" and "pure_part()". Justin -- Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon-At-Large Institute for the Absorption of Federal Funds -------- If you're not confused, You're not paying attention -------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
