On 7/21/07, Stavros Macrakis <macrakis at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> On 7/21/07, Robert Dodier <robert.dodier at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Something like
> > if x > 0 then %pi/4 elseif x < 0 then 5*%pi/4 else 'atan2(x, x)
> > could be useful here.
>
> I am not sure what you are suggesting here. Are you suggesting that
> atan2(q,q) simplify to the expression "if q>0 then etc.etc."?
Yes. The point of this is that to make further progress doesn't
require knowing anything about atan2, only the simpler expressions
in the predicate and each branch of the conditional.
Perhaps you have a different form of conditonal expression you
would rather see (instead of Maxima's usual if ...).
If so I would be interested to hear about that.
best
Robert