Subject: Why cannot Maxima calculate some simple sums
From: Robert Dodier
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 11:09:06 -0600
On 6/5/10, John Lapeyre <pdl at johnlapeyre.com> wrote:
> (%i4) sum(1/n^2,n,1,inf),simpsum; /* why not simpintegrate ? */
> (%o4) %pi^2/6
>
> (%i5) sum(1/n!,n,0,inf),simpsum;
> (%o5) 'sum(1/n!,n,0,inf)
>
> (Now the user assumes that maxima can't do this sum because the manual is
> clear about simpsum and seems to imply that this is all there is to simplifying sums)
>
> Maybe no one got around to fixing this inconsistency... or maybe its hard
> to change without breaking something.
simpsum is pretty weak. At this point we should probably just
get rid of simpsum and tell people to use simplify_sum instead.
(It doesn't help that using a flag is inconsistent with use of functions
elsewhere, e.g. integrate.)
Feel free to submit a tracker item about this.
There is a tracker named "feature requests".
I can't guarantee when we'll get around to it but at least it
won't get lost.
FWIW
Robert Dodier