Problem/Bug in Maxima?



I've found this letter in smc newsgroup... Please CC: the responces to
the author.
-- 
Good luck

-Boris
http://www.plmsc.psu.edu/~boris/

------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: David Ronis <ronis at gibbs>
Subject: Problem/Bug in Maxima?
Newsgroups: sci.math.symbolic
Message-ID: <2p715.78$_r3.43895@carnaval.risq.qc.ca>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 15:33:18 GMT

I've encountered what I think are two bugs in maxima.  I need to do 
iterated integrals of the form:

f[n](x):=p[n](x)+ W(x) + integrate(f[n-1](s[n-1]),s[n-1],0,x);
f[0](x):=0;

where p[n](x) is a low-order polynomial (defined explicitly) and W(x)
is an unknown function.  I've decleared integrate linear.

Here's what happens (say for p[n](x):=x):

(C1) f[n](x):=p[n](x)+ W(x) + integrate(f[n-1](s[n-1]),s[n-1],0,x);

(D1)    f (x) := p (x) + W(x) + INTEGRATE(f     (s     ), s     , 0, x)
	 n	  n			   n - 1  n - 1	   n - 1
(C2) f[0](x):=0;

(D2) 				  f (x) := 0
				   0
(C3) declare(integrate,linear);

(D3) 				     DONE
(C4) p[n](x):=x;

(D4) 				  p (x) := x
				   n
(C5) f[1](x);

(D5) 				   W(x) + x
(C6) f[2](x);

(D6) 			   W(x) + (W(s ) + s ) x + x
				      1	    1

If instead I try:

(C1) declare(integrate,linear);

(D1) 				     DONE
(C2) p[n](x):=x;

(D2) 				  p (x) := x
				   n
(C3) f[n](x):=p[n](x)+ W(x) + integrate(f[n-1](s),s,0,x);

(D3) 	     f (x) := p (x) + W(x) + INTEGRATE(f     (s), s, 0, x)
	      n	       n		        n - 1
(C4) f[0](x):=0;

(D4) 				  f (x) := 0
				   0
(C5) f[1](x);

(D5) 				   W(x) + x
(C6) f[2](x);

Is  x  positive, negative, or zero?

pos;
				    x		 x
				   /	        /
				   [	        [
(D6) 		        W(x) + x + I  W(s) ds + I  s ds
				   ]	        ]
				   /	        /
				    0		 0
(C7) f[3](x);

Is  x  positive, negative, or zero?

pos;
		  x  s		     x  s	     x		  x
		 /  /		    /  /	    /		 /
		 [  [		    [  [	    [		 [
(D7)  W(x) + x + I  I  W(s) ds ds + I  I  s ds ds + I  W(s) ds + I  s ds
		 ]  ]		    ]  ]	    ]		 ]
		 /  /		    /  /	    /		 /
		  0  0		     0  0	     0		  0
(C8) f[4](x);

Is  x  positive, negative, or zero?

pos;
		 x  s  s		  x  s  s	        x  s
		/  /  /			 /  /  /	       /  /
		[  [  [			 [  [  [	       [  [
(D8) W(x) + x + I  I  I	 W(s) ds ds ds + I  I  I  s ds ds ds + I  I  W(s) ds ds
		]  ]  ]			 ]  ]  ]	       ]  ]
		/  /  /			 /  /  /	       /  /
		 0  0  0		  0  0  0	        0  0

					    x  s	    x		 x
					   /  /		   /	        /
					   [  [		   [	        [
					 + I  I	 s ds ds + I  W(s) ds + I  s ds
					   ]  ]		   ]	        ]
					   /  /		   /	        /

Which is slightly better but still wrong.  My questions are:

1.  Why doesn't maxima do the trivial integral of x?  

2.  How do I get it to properly change the symbol used for the
integration variable and limits in multiple integrals?

David

------- End of forwarded message -------