I'm attempting to get numerical results by using the "float" function. I'm
not real clear on how it is supposed to work and the results I'm getting
confuse me even more.
(%i2) float(%e^(2/3*%pi*%i));
(%o2) .8660254037844386*%i-0.5
(%i3) float(%e^(10/21*%pi*%i));
(%o3) 2.718281828459045^(10*%i*%pi/21)
Why does %o2 turn out to be written directly as a complex number, but %o3 not
get simplified at all? Is there another function I should be using rather
than "float"? I want the expressions simplified to be written as a complex
number like %o2.
Thanks
Joel
Version information is:
Maxima version: 5.9.3
Maxima build date: 13:23 9/11/2006
host type: i686-pc-linux-gnu
lisp-implementation-type: CLISP
lisp-implementation-version: 2.38 (2006-01-24) (built 3366983146) (memory
3366984204)