-----maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu wrote: -----
>The?introduction?of?abs()?in?the?answers?to?radcan?makes?a?hash?of?its?attempt?to?make?algebraic?sense.
Example:
(%i1) radcan(sqrt(a^2)), domain : real, radexpand : true;
(%o1) abs(a)
(%i2) radcan(sqrt(a^2-2*a*b+b^2)), domain : real, radexpand : true;
(%o2) b-a
The outputs %o1 and %o2 are inconsistent, I think. My Macsyma 2.2 gives abs(b-a) for %o2
and abs(a) for %o1, by the way.
The user documentation for radcan should be improved. Something like:
For any n-variable Maxima expression e, the equation radcan(e) = e is an identity on some
nonempty open subset D of C^n. The set D might differ from what you would like it to be.
--Barton