Tutorial on simplification?



Daniel Lyddy wrote:

>All:
>
>In Maxima 5.9.1 I can do the following:
>
>(%i47) declare(t, real);
>(%o47) DONE
>

The line above should have no effect on the lines below

>(%i48) sqrt(2) * cos(t - pi/4);
>(%o48) sqrt(2)*cos(t-%pi/4)
>(%i49) trigrat(%);
>(%o49) sin(t)+cos(t)
>
>I had no idea until today that the TRIGRAT function
>existed.  I happened to find it in one of wxMaxima's
>pull-down menus, and I clicked it to see what it would
>do.  There are other simplifications that Maxima seems
>to be able to perform, but figuring out which commands
>to use and what order to apply them in is daunting to
>a newbie.  
>
Daunting to experts, too.

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