On Mon, 5 Oct 2009, Stavros Macrakis wrote:
< On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 3:02 PM, Stavros Macrakis <macrakis at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
<
< Why would you say that 1+2=>3 is an "evaluation" (though not in Maxima terms), but x+2*x => 3*x is an "evaluation"?? What about %i+2*%i?
<
<
< Sorry, in case it's not obvious, I meant:
<
< Why would you say that 1+2=>3 is an "evaluation" (though not in Maxima terms), but x+2*x => 3*x is not an "evaluation"?? What about %i+2*%i?
<
< or
<
< Why would you say that 1+2=>3 is an "evaluation" (though not in Maxima terms), but x+2*x => 3*x is a "simplification"?? What about %i+2*%i?
<
< ... and how about x-x vs. %pi-%pi vs. 3.14-3.14?
Stavros, in all of these examples a function is evaluated. I am conditioned by
many years of training to agree that they are also simplifications. At
root, my prejudice is that the application of an arithmetic operation is
a simplification, while the evaluation of a transcendental function is
not.
Because I noted that Maxima does not observe the same distinction, I
wanted to know where the distinction lies and its rationale.
Leo
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