In the absence of other instructions, radcan tries to impose
a consistent "positive real" interpretation on radicals. The
alternative of providing all 12 roots of the expression is
painful; the choice of |u|, a non-algebraic quantity,
is controversial. There is no answer that makes everyone
happy, historically speaking.
RJF
Raymond Toy wrote:
>>>>>>"willisb" == willisb <willisb@unk.edu> writes:
>>>>>
>
> willisb> Yes.
> willisb> (C1) (u^l2)^(1/l2);
> willisb> (D1) (u^l2)^(1/l2)
> willisb> (C2) radcan(%);
> willisb> (D2) u
>
> Shoudn't this be abs(u), as mentioned in a different mail?
>
> Or at least the documentation for radcan should mention something
> about it assuming positive numbers for this.
>
> Ray
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