Subject: Different max behavior from commercial product.
From: Stavros Macrakis
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 11:18:42 -0400
> The commercial product returns minf when max is either called
> with a empty list, or applied to one, or called with no arguments.
> If called with a non empty list, it applies max to the list.
I agree that max() == apply(max,[]) should be minf.
What does commercial Macsyma do with max([2,3])? with
max([2,3],[3,2])? I do not think it is a good idea for max([...]) to
be equivalent to max(...) because there are various possible orderings
you could apply to a []-list: lexicographic, max of various norms
(which may not yield a unique max, of course).
In general, I am opposed to features which sacrifice mathematical
consistency for supposed convenience. Experience shows that the lack
of consistency always causes problems later on.
-s