Hi - I wouldn't call using expand and factor a waste of time; it doesn't
take that much effort to go through one or two more steps on the road to a
solution. I use expand, factor, etc. all the time. Cheers, Dave H.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel Lemire [SMTP:lemire at ondelette]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 7:02 PM
> To: David Holmgren; maxima@www.math.utexas.edu
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] Newbie: problem solving basic equations
>
> Good day,
>
>
> > You have to think in a slightly different way when approaching a problem
> > with computer algebra.
>
>
> I know when something *could* be done and is not being done. I know when
> something is not being done for good reasons. The examples I gave were
> problems Maxima has to be able to solve. So far, I've learned that half
> of the could be solved using the right settings.
>
> We are left with the other half. Why is it that other Computer Systems
> can solve these and not Maxima? Well, I'm looking at it right now,
> trying to figure out if I can go from 50% to 100% the same way I went
> from 0% to 50%.
>
> There is no way I will accept having to factor and expand stuff. I use
> Computer Algebra to save time, not waste it. Other packages are beyond
> that now. Maxima has to match (in some way) the abilities of the other
> packages. Unfortunately, I'm not an algebra specialist and I cannot be
> expected to expand Maxima.
>
>
> > Incidentally, I have used Maple for a number of years and there are
> many
> > situations in which I find it frustrating to use.
>
>
> It is.
>
> I'm very much a Mathcad user and it is very frustrating. Not to mention
> that it is a proprietary solution and I don't think my (freely
> available, publishable, reproducible) research should be based on
> proprietary software.
>
> Some think for teaching. I would feel much better teaching a course
> using free (as in "open source") software rather than feeding some
> marketing hype.
>
>
> So far though, Maxima has shown itself to be even more frustrating (what
> is it with the evil user interface?).
>
>
> I'm ready to cope with this just to see if it is a learning curve thing
> or if Maxima is really frustrating.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Daniel Lemire, Ph.D.
>
> http://www.ondelette.com/
>