>
> I don't know much about that (does any CAS have pole finding routines?)
... Looking for f= infinity by solve(1/f=0,..)
> but that problem reminds me of a silly question I've been wanting to
> ask:
>
> in the case of something like:
>
> (x + 2) (x + 1)
> ---------------
> x + 1
>
> Maxima will simplify this to x+2. But, as written, doesn't this
> expression have a hole at x=-1? It will do the x+2 thing everywhere
> else - is it OK to simplify because it's a case of zero over zero? I
> thought that didn't evaluate to one mathematically.
>
> I'm assuming I'm just a dork, but can someone set me straight?
I think the distinction is that in the field of rational functions
with removable singularities removed, what you have above is x+2.
If you want to talk about what this means as a program, you can make
up lots of different things. The canonical example here is computing
sin(x)/x at x=0, which every calculus student knows has a limit as x->0
of 1. Yet the dumb computer probably does "division by zero".
RJF
>
> CY
>
>
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