Steve Haflich wrote:
> One issue is that CL ratios unconditionally do automatic gcd
> simplification in two ways:
>
> cl-user(19): (/ 10 4)
> 5/2 ; a different, mathematically equal ratio
> cl-user(19): (/ 10 5)
> 2 ; an object of type integer, not type ratio
>
> These are almost always what one wants, but does Maxima always behave
> similarly in these two cases? If not, is there any circumstance where
> automatic simplification would not be wanted?
>
I think Maxima will eventually reduce the fraction just like CL does.
But you can easily create fractions like ((rat) 10 4). It seems that
operations on such things will eventually get reduced to lowest terms.
If you set simp:false, then the simplification doesn't happen. This
seems to be an unusual thing to do, and if we use CL rationals, we won't
be able to turn this off.
Ray