Yes, Maxima by default does not look for closed forms of sums.
Try using simpsum, e.g.
s: sum((1+r)^-t,t,1,n)$
ev(s,simpsum) => ((r+1)^(-n-1)-1/(r+1))/(1/(r+1)-1)
You can then change the form of that using factor, ratsimp, etc.
A more powerful simplifier for sums is simplify_sum, e.g.
load(simplify_sum)$
simplify_sum(s) => ...same thing...
For more info, try
? simpsum
and
? simplify_sum
-s
On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 4:56 AM, klswacha <cwrward at gmail.com> wrote:
> In Maxima, if one enters sum((1+r)^-t,t,1,n), the result is given as the
> Summation sign 1/(r+1)^t correctly. BUT how does one obtain the closed form
> solution to such series?