Richard Hennessy wrote:
> try,
>
> (%i1) signum(limit(subst(inf,x, a*x^2)));
>
> sign: sign of infinity is undefined.
> -- an error. To debug this try debugmode(true);
> (%i2)
>
> This is another bug, present in 5.18.1 and 5.19.0. In the limit the sign does matter. I think it is incorrect for limit to give an
> answer of "unsigned" infinity.
>
That's not the error, or at least not the first error.
The expression that makes sense is signum(limit(a*x^2,x,inf));
Maxima should ask about the sign of "a", because it affects the answer
as follows:
if "a" is positive, the limit is inf (positive).
if "a" is zero, the limit is 0
if "a" is negative, the limit is -inf .
Thus signum() depends on the sign of "a" which is (apparently) not known
since you start with line %i1.
subst(inf,x, .....) is generally bogus, since inf is not a proper value.
RJF
> Rich
>
>
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