User documentation for to_poly_solve exists, but it's hard to find; look
in
.../Maxima-5.19.1/share/maxima/5.19.1/share/contrib/topoly-user-doc.html
The to_poly_solver is far from magic--it's not all that much more than
what Norma
Jane, my public school math teacher, taught me to do.
Barton
(author of to_poly_solve)
maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu wrote on 10/27/2009 12:41:53 PM:
> [image removed]
>
> Re: [Maxima] solve(x/sqrt(x+2)=1,x)
>
> Leo Butler
>
> to:
>
> Javier Arantegui
>
> 10/27/2009 12:41 PM
>
> Sent by:
>
> maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu
>
> Cc:
>
> maxima
>
>
>
> On Tue, 27 Oct 2009, Javier Arantegui wrote:
>
> < Dear list,
> <
> < For me, CAS is like magic. The programs are big black boxes that can
> < do amazing things, like solving differential equations or really
> < complex equations.
> <
> < As I said I don't know a word about how Maxima works, but I find
> < fascinating that it is incapable of solving this simple equation:
> <
> < (%i12) eq:x/sqrt(x+2)=1;
> < (%o12) x/sqrt(x+2)=1
> <
> < (%i13) solve(eq,x);
> < (%o13) [x=sqrt(x+2)]
> <
> <
> < Every high school student knows how to transform this equation to
> < solve it easily:
> <
> < (%i14) solve(eq^2,x);
> < (%o14) [x=2,x=-1]
> <
> <
> < I just wonder why Maxima is able to solve ODEs but fails with this
> < simple equation.
>
> Thanks for your nice comments. Maxima has a lot of add-on packages which
> extend the basic functionality. Here is an example:
>
> (%i204) load(to_poly_solver);
> (%o204)
> "/home/lbutler/maxima-ln/maxima-5.19.2/share/contrib/to_poly_solver.mac"
> (%i205) to_poly_solve(x/sqrt(x+2)=1,x);
> (%o205) %union([x = 2])
>
> Note that the spurious root is not included.
>
> Leo
>
> --
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