On 6/12/10 3:35 PM, rene kaelin wrote:
> Hello
>
> I'd like to compare two expressions p1 and p2 with powers:
>
> p1: (2^100+1)^(1/2):
> p2: ((2^100+1)^2)^(1/4);
> is(p1=p2);
>
> --> Maxima says: false
>
> but:
> p1: (2^10+1)^(1/2):
> p2: ((2^10+1)^2)^(1/4);
> is(p1=p2);
>
> --> Maxima says: true
>
> Why does the first comparison end with the wrong answer?
The problem is that Maxima "simplifies" each expression. For the second
case, maxima simplifies both p1 and p2 to the same expression. For the
first case, the simplification of p1 and p2 are quite different.
The only way I can get maxima to show that p1 and p2 are equal is to
compute (p1/p2)^4, which maxima says is 1.
Ray