Re: proposal to bring ifactor into src/, was: Factoring large integers
Subject: Re: proposal to bring ifactor into src/, was: Factoring large integers
From: Richard Fateman
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:20:08 -0800
In commercial macsyma,
factor_number returns a list of factors of an integer.
1234 is an integer, not a polynomial.
so factor(1234)-> 2*617.
factor(1234*x) -> 1234 * x
My expectation is that any "serious" use of factors
would benefit from getting a list of <factor,multiplicity>
rather than the hackish unsimplified form that has to
be painstakingly decomposed to find the actual factors.
I think the current factor program mostly makes sense for one
application, namely to answer the question "Does this
expression simplify to something interesting if I
factor it?"
RJF