On Mon, 5 Oct 2009, Stavros Macrakis wrote:
< Maxima distinguishes between mathematical functions (like sin, abs, etc.)
< and computational routines (like factor, ratsimp, etc.).
<
< Mathematical functions are not "evaluated", but "simplified": sin(%pi) => 0
< by simplification, sin(3.14) => 0.002 by simplification, etc. This is an
< important and fundamental concept in Maxima.
Is this accurate?
Maxima considers floating point operations by its in-built
mathematical functions to be a simplification.
@c ===beg===
@c sin(1.0);
@c '(sin(1.0));
@c ===end===
@example
(%i1) sin(1.0);
(%o1) .8414709848078965
(%i2) '(sin(1.0));
(%o2) .8414709848078965
@end example
Leo
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