Integration question (definite integral)



On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:05:14 +0200
max.e.brown at gmail.com wrote:
> When I ask for a definite integral, I get
> 
> -8<-----------
> (%i2) integrate(cot(x), x, 0, %pi/2);
> Is  sin(x)  positive, negative, or zero?
> 
> pos;
> Is  cos(x)  positive, negative, or zero?
> 
> zero;
> Integral is divergent
> --------------
> 
> Why do I need to specify wether things are positive?
> 
> I would have thought that log(sin(%pi/2)) - log(sin(0)) is rather
> simple to evaluate... is there some obvious complication that I am not
> seeing?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Max

Well, log(sin(0)) = log(0) = -infinity, so maybe Maxima's right?

Rupert
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