On Sep 18, 2009, at 6:42 AM, niels wrote: > >> Does find_root take general symbolic expressions (i.e., x==x^2)? ... >> sage:solve(x^5+x^3+17*x+1,x) ... > > I think it should at least be clear over what ring the user wants to > solve, then it is also clear which method should be used. > > * If the coefficients are algebraic/transcendental over QQ then > symbolic algebraic are often preferred > > * Over finite fields probably just try everything (but maybe something > better) > > * Over RR or CC a numerical solver is often preferred (since already > the input coefficients are probably not precise, and more geometrical > methods are used) > > I think that symbolic expressions don't mean so much if the ring is > not specified (or is it?). > This is in my opinion very confusing.
I like the idea of solve(f) attempting to call f.solve(), which would handle the finite field and numerical cases much nicer. However, it should probably not be synonymous with roots, as I'd want a polynomial over RR to return its complex roots as well. (Not sure what to do about the case above, the answer is pretty useless... IIRC some systems return an object "roots of ..." which then can be numerically approximated. - Robert --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
