sequence of variables



On 1/25/08, wally <wally at mpi.int.pl> wrote:

> Why do Maxima change sequence of variables ?

Hi Wally. There are two things going on here. One is that Maxima
tries to arrange expressions into a so-called canonical form.
The other is that Maxima has ideas about how to display the
canonical form of an expression.

> can i change this behavior ?

Yes, via the global flag "powerdisp".

powerdisp : false;
a + b + c;
 => c + b + a
powerdisp : true;
a + b + c;
 => a + b + c

To judge by the name, powerdisp was invented to control the
display of polynomials. But it actually affects all "+" expressions.

?? disp
finds some info about powerdisp and other display variables.

HTH

Robert Dodier