Simple "solve" question



On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 10:36:33PM +0100, Gregory Hughes wrote:
> Hello all,
> 	I have a simple(ish) question about solve. I have an equation,  
> called "test" I want to solve "test" for the value "fl". I know the  
> values "r" and "c." Likewise, I actually also know the proper value  
> for "fl", but I can't get Maxima to give it to me.
> 
> /*-------------*/
> /* My test equation */
> test:6096*tan((2*atan(c/(2*fl)))/r) / (tan(((1/60)*(%pi/180))));
> /* solve for fl ... */
> solve(test=6096,fl);


See my previous email about solve's hesitance to delve into this
equation. To do it manually you can do the following, but I haven't
thought about the math here, only getting maxima to do the naive
algebra.


(%i8) pickapart(test,3);

					 c
				 2 atan(----)
					2 fl
(%t8) 				 ------------
				      r

				 6096 tan(%t8)
(%o8) 				 -------------
				       %pi
				  tan(-----)
				      10800
(%i9) solve(%o8=6096,'%t8);

`solve' is using arc-trig functions to get a solution.
Some solutions will be lost.
					 %pi
(%o9) 				 [%t8 = -----]
					10800
(%i10) ev(%);
				     c
			     2 atan(----)
				    2 fl     %pi
(%o10) 			    [------------ = -----]
				  r	    10800
(%i11) solve(first(%),fl);
					 c
(%o11) 			      [fl = ------------]
					  %pi r
				    2 tan(-----)
					  21600


-- 
Daniel Lakeland
dlakelan at street-artists.org
http://www.street-artists.org/~dlakelan