$sum, dosum and simplifcation



Robert Dodier wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:38 PM, Richard Fateman
> <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>
>   
>> I don't recall the resolution of this discussion, but I would just warn
>> against making (yet another?) change in the behavior of a function
>> based on some particular bug report.
>>     
>
> It seems hardly worth the trouble to say it, but anyway,
> that's not what happened.
>
>   
>> sum(if i>5 then 0 else 1,  i, 1, 10)
>> comes out 6
>>     
>
> No, it doesn't.
>   

oops.  I meant to type  sum(if i>5 then 0 else 1,   i, 0, 10).

that comes out 6 in  maxima 5.20.1
>   
>> but
>> i:10;
>>
>> sum(if i>5 then 0 else 1,  i, 1, 10)
>>
>> This now comes out 0.
>>     

oops again.  I used ''%i80  when I mean ''%i79,  and re-evaluated the 
wrong expression.
Please accept my apologies for both these errors!!!

It is not (my) intention to attack you personally! Especially with 
falsehoods!!

It is probably impossible to get something completely "right" in this 
arena simply because you would
have to meet the conflicting expectations of user A and user B, both of 
whom could
reasonably be considered correct. 

RJF