Problem with plotting function defined condionally



> My problem is not really to plot croot but I want to define a function 
> croot that I can use to define more complex function to be plotted, for 
> example I want to be able to write plot2d(croot(x^2),[x,-5,-5]). I 
> always end up with this simplification problem; don't you know a work 
> around that would force maxima to compute croot without any simplification?

I answer to myself; the following definition works (for plot2d):

croot(x) := if x>0 then x^(0.3333333333333333) else 
-(-x)^(0.3333333333333333) $

Still many thanks, because I would not have found it without your 
explanation!

Olive