behavior of ind, = and equal, also fiddling with limit

This is an absurd exercise.  Instead of looking in a general-purpose
thesaurus, you can simply find the Maxima definitions with ? ind and ? und.
Or perhaps you also use thesaurus.reference.com when you want to know what a
'ring' is....

               -s


On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Richard Hennessy <rich.hennessy at verizon.net
> wrote:

> What is the difference between indefinite and undefined in Maxima, do they
> mean the same thing?
>
> Google "indefinite and undefined"
>
> You get from http://thesaurus.reference.com
>
>      Main Entry: indefinite
>      Part of Speech: adjective
>      Definition: ambiguous, vague
>      Synonyms: broad, confused, doubtful, dubious, equivocal,evasive,
> general, ill-defined, imprecise, indeterminable,
> indeterminate, indistinct, inexact, inexhaustible, infinite,
> innumerable,intangible, loose, obscure, shadowy, uncertain, unclear,
> undefined, undependable, undetermined, unfixed, unknown,
> unlimited,unsettled, unspecific, unsure, wide
>      Antonyms: certain, definite, distinct, sure
>
>
>      Main Entry: undefined
>      Part of Speech: adjective1
>      Definition: infinite
>      Synonyms: boundless, endless, enduring, forever, limitless,perpetual,
> unending, vast
>      Antonyms: bounded, finite, limited
>
>
>      Main Entry: undefined
>      Part of Speech: adjective2
>      Definition: vague
>      Synonyms: ambiguous, dim, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, muddy, obscure,
> unclear, unspecific
>      Antonyms: clear, definite, sure
>
>
>
> My 2 cents worth,
>
> Rich
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
> From: "Richard Fateman" <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu>
> To: "Stavros Macrakis" <macrakis at alum.mit.edu>
> Cc: "Richard Fateman" <fateman at EECS.Berkeley.EDU>; "Maxima List" <
> maxima at math.utexas.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 1:09 PM
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] behavior of ind, = and equal, also fiddling with
> limit
>
>
> Stavros Macrakis wrote:
> > On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Richard Fateman
> > <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu <mailto:fateman at cs.berkeley.edu>> wrote:
> >
> >     is (ind=ind)   returns true
> >     is (equal(ind,ind)) returns false.
> >
> >
> > I believe this is correct, though confusing.
>
> I sort of agree,  except that the documentation says that is
> (equal(a,b))  is computed by testing (0=ratsimp(a-b)).  And that would
> result in true, not false.
>
> The limit questions were really asking about ind  [for indefinite]  and
> und [for undefined]. If we need both, are we handling them correctly?
> {I think not.  (und-und -> 0,  ind-ind->0,  and for that matter, inf-inf
> -> 0  in the simplifier)}
>
> We also have, at least in some Lisps,  not-a-numbers ... NaNs -- single,
> double, maybe extended, and there are actually a huge number
> of distinguishable NaNs.
> NaN is specified by a reserved exponent, but the fraction part can be
> used to store info.
>
> I'm still thinking about limit sets vs. intervals :)
>
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>