wrong symbolic sum



On 7/26/09, Barton Willis <willisb at unk.edu> wrote:

> Currently, we have consistency between things such as
>
>  (%i2) f(n) := block([acc : 0], for i : 0 thru n do acc : acc + i, acc)$
>  (%i4) g(n) := sum(i,i,0,n)$
>
> I suppose that's good, but users should expect sums & loops to have
> different properties.

Disagreed -- in the interest of predicting how different expressions
are going to be evaluated, sums and loops should be equivalent.

I'm not all that crazy about sumhack. We're going to pay a price
for bringing it back -- namely the confusion brought on by inconsistency.

Or maybe sumhack should modify the way loops work, too.
I could be convinced of that.

best

Robert Dodier