I think the more troublesome problems with inf and und (etc) is that such
symbols HAVE participated in arithmetic in some ways, leading to peculiar
situations.
along with constants of integration, intervals, and perhaps other items,
these "names" have tended to get re-used. E.g. some program returns
"undefined" two times, and subtracts one from the other to get 0.
The constants produced by the ODE programs have such issues, (or at least
they used to.. I don't know if has been fixed).
RJF
_____
From: maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu [mailto:maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu]
On Behalf Of Stavros Macrakis
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 1:19 PM
To: belanger at truman.edu
Cc: maxima at math.utexas.edu
Subject: Re: [Maxima] Operations on inf
On 3/9/07, Jay Belanger <belanger at truman.edu> wrote:
"Andrey G. Grozin" <A.G.Grozin at inp.nsk.su> writes:
...
>
......
\
The Maxima objects INF, UND, etc. have in the past not participated in
arithmetic at all -- they have been outside the arithmetic system,
.....