On Sun, 8 Nov 2009, Ulf Ekstr?m wrote:
< Dear all,
< I am trying to make Maxima identify terms for me, for example
<
< solve(x*y=a*(x+y)^2+b*(x-y)^2,[a,b]);
<
< which I would like to give me a=1/4, b=-1/4. However, it seems that solve()
< is not really made for this kind of equations[1]. Is there any other function
< I can use for these problems?
<
< Sincerely,
< Ulf Ekstr?m, VU University Amsterdam
<
< [1] I get: [[a=-(%r3*y^2+(-2*%r3-1)*x*y+%r3*x^2)/(y^2+2*x*y+x^2),b=%r3]]
Ulf,
The output from solve is correct, but you are looking for a & b as
coefficients. Here are a couple ways to do this:
eq : x*y = a*(x+y)^2+b*(x-y)^2;
define(eqab(x,y),eq);
solve([eqab(1,1),eqab(3,0)],[a,b]);
----
eq : rat(x*y - a*(y+x)^2+b*(x-y)^2);
map(lambda([t],ratcoef(eq,t)),[x*y,x^2,y^2]);
linsolve(%,[a,b]);
Leo
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