In your case %o2, automatically expanding the product created by a log
contraction produces a simpler result, but that is not the general case. I
don't think it's a good idea to have, e.g.
logcontract(log(x+1)+log(x+2)+log(x+3)) => log(x^3+6*x^2+11*x+6)
-s
On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 14:05, Dr. David Kirkby <david.kirkby at onetel.net>wrote:
> In Maxima 5.20.1, the following evaluates to 0, which is correct, and the
> simplest way of expressing the result.
>
> (%i1) log(sqrt(2) - 1) + log(sqrt(2) + 1)$
>
> (%i2) logcontract(%);
> (%o2) 0
>
>
> However, in Maxima 5.22.1 the same inputs leads to something quite
> different, although mathematically it is is a correct result.
>
> %i3) log(sqrt(2) - 1) + log(sqrt(2) + 1)$
>
> (%i4) logcontract(%);
> (%o4) log((sqrt(2) - 1) (sqrt(2) + 1))
>
>
>
>
> Dave
>
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