I also solved it in Mathematica and added a jpg file of the output.
It looks like there us a real and two imaginary solutions.
Not sure that helps.
~A
On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 3:16 PM, Richard Fateman <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu>wrote:
> Your "polynomial" is of degree 3 in x^(1/2).
>
> I suggest you make the change of variables t=x^(1/2) and solve
>
> a*t^3-b*t^2+c*t-d=0.
>
> This can be solved for t by solve(......,t);
>
> then take the square root of the answer. This will give you 6 solutions (+
> and - sqrt).
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> (The symbolic solution to a cubic like this is generally very complicated
> and not of much use.)
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu [mailto:
> maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu] *On Behalf Of *Laure.DUTOIT at cepal.org
> *Sent:* Monday, September 22, 2008 3:10 PM
> *To:* maxima at math.utexas.edu
> *Subject:* [Maxima] Solving polynomials with Maxima ?
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am trying to solve a polynomial using Maxima, but I cannot get an
> explicit answer. My polynomial is of the following form:
> x^(3/2) a - x b + x^(1/2) c - d =0, where a,b,c and d are composed of
> several variables, but are not of interest.
>
> So, I would like to be able to solve this polynomial (I am not a
> mathematician, but I think solving such a polynomial is feasible using a
> mathematical software, no ?) using Maxima to get to an answer of the form
> x=f(a,b,c,d) and not x=f(a,b,c,d,x), as I now get using the command "solve"
> (i.e, the answer I am given is not explicit).
>
>
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>
>
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