On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Jonathan <gu...@uwosh.edu> wrote: > Yes, I made a typo..Thanks for realizing what I meant. > > However, I still think that a solution that has complex answers is OK. If > you are finding the symbolic solution isn't it better to find the general > solution and then deal with specific cases? I don't see what is wrong with: > p = (-A)^(1/B), even when B = 2 and A > 0. This just means p = > (+/-)sqrt(-A). I just don't see any problem with having two possible > answers, even if they are complex. Is the problem that Maxima is trying to > solve the problem restricting it to RR? > > I believe this is a case where Sage should try to catch this kind of Maxima > error and allow the user to get the general answer without having to drop > into Maxima. > > So, I am arguing that Sage really should return: p = (-A)^(1/B) in cases > like this and that when Maxima asks a question, we need a better explanation > for the user of how to respond. > > Jonathan >
Well, I agree. I guess I was trying to say that a solution, if one exists, depends on the context (the underlying ring and also the values of A and B) so I don't think it's unreasonable for Maxima to ask for more information before giving an apparent solution which may or may not really exist. Mathematica seems to agree with you to: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+A+%2B+p%5EB+%3D+0+for+p I definitely agree that Sage could be more helpful here as the middle man. I wonder if Maxima has any flags related to this, e.g. `return_purely_symbolic_solutions = true` would return `[ p = (-A)^(1/B) ]` and we could wrap this flag as an option to solve? -- Benjamin Jones -- 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
