> -----Original Message-----
> From: maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu [mailto:maxima-
> bounces at math.utexas.edu] On Behalf Of Michel Van den Bergh
> Sent: Monday, December 25, 2006 7:40 AM
> To: maxima at math.utexas.edu
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] Numerical summation of series
>
> But I am not very familiar with the conventions in
> Maxima. How do you specify for example the required precision of a
> numerical operation?
All rational operations are done exactly.
Read about fpprec for control of floating point precision with bfloats.
> How do you signal an error (such as division by
> zero)?
I think you want to ask about how to CATCH an error, since signaling
division by zero is done by dividing by zero.
This is probably best done by writing in common lisp, underneath the Maxima
language.
If you suspect that division by zero will occur, it may pay to just check
before each division.
RJF