On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 9:15 PM, Ronald Modesitt <rmodesi at msn.com> wrote:
> (F(x+h) ?F(x))/h = (sqrt(x+h) ?sqrt(x))/h.
>
> To set the numerator to 1 ... this yields
>
> 1/(sqrt(x+h) + sqrt(x)).
>
> My question is this. How do I ask Maxima to set the numerator to a specific
> value, in this case 1?
Well, we don't think in terms of "setting the numerator to a specific
value", but your goal seems to be to clear the radicals from the
numerator.
Ratsimp with algebraic:true clears the radicals from the
*denominator*, so if you call it on the inverse, you'll get the
desired result:
ex: (sqrt(x+h) -sqrt(x))/h$
1/ratsimp(1/%),algebraic:true =>
1/(sqrt(x+h)+sqrt(x))
Is this what you had in mind?
-s