One more thing: You might be interested in the to_poly based solver:
(%i1) load("C:/maximacvs/maxima/share/contrib/topoly_solver.mac")$
(%i2) load("C:/maximacvs/maxima/share/contrib/topoly.lisp")$
(%i3) load(polynomialp)$
(%i7) to_poly_solve(0.478+0.237*sqrt(v)-0.0124*v = 1,[v]);
`rat' replaced -0.522 by -261/500 = -0.522
`rat' replaced 0.237 by 237/1000 = 0.237
`rat' replaced -0.0124 by -31/2500 = -0.0124
(%o7) [[v=(10665*sqrt(3)*sqrt(5)*sqrt(7)*sqrt(89)+1080585)/7688],
[v=-(10665*sqrt(3)*sqrt(5)*sqrt(7)*sqrt(89)-1080585)/7688]]
I think I forgot to include to_poly_solve.mac in the make file, so I think
you'll need to get "topoly_solver.mac" from CVS. Also, a user shouldn't
have to load polynomialp. I'll look into these things.
BW