Subject: Rules and simplification question (newbie)
From: Doug Neubauer
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 00:30:21 -0500
On Tue, 23 May 2006 20:02:10 -0700, "Richard Fateman" wrote:
>the pattern for
>-x^2 looks like
>
>(* -1 (expt x 2))
>
>the pattern for -r^2/t^2
>
>looks like
>(* -1 (expt r 2)(expt t -2))
>
>A product of 3 items. It won't match a pattern of 2 items.
I guess I was hoping there was some way to make Maxima recognize
r^2/t^2 was also (r/t)^2 and that would match the pattern.
>
>you could try defining a rule like
>matchdeclare (negsquare, negsquarematcher);
>
>defrule (rule1, exp(negsquare), gp(sqrt(-negsquare)))
>
>now figure out the function negsquarematcher(h) := ..... something to test
>for the case you want....
>
>RJF
>
Thanks. And thanks to everyone for their help.
Doug