On 9/13/2010 12:27 PM, Richard Hennessy wrote:
> The good thing is that an extension to Maxima that handles inf, und,
> ind and minf would force the user to think. About what I am not sure
> but some users don't want to think about that, they just want the
> answer in the quickest and easiest way possible. That results in
> letting the computer do the thinking and the user learns nothing. I
> am guilty of this too.
>
> Rich
>
Such an extension would require rewriting the simplifier. It would not
be an extension the way adding rules to a previously unknown function
name could add
functionality of (say) taking derivatives etc. It would require
replacing existing code to check for strange objects including und, inf,
intervals.
I agree that users often just want the answer and don't want to think
more than necessary. That's a reasonable (first) approach, though.
RJF