problems



On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 12:14 AM, <leon.magiera at wp.pl> wrote:

> Hi
>
> Problem 1
> How, using Maxima, to solve in elegant way the equation
>
>                 eq:sqrt(x+3-4*sqrt(x-1))+sqrt(x+8-6*sqrt(x-1))=1;
>
> The solution is
>
>                 5<=x<=10
>

It looks like to_poly_solver can solve this:

(%i54) load(to_poly_solver);

(%o54) "/Users/rtoy/src/sourceforge/maxima/share/contrib/to_poly_solver.mac"
(%i55) to_poly_solve(eq,x);
(%o55) %union(%if(?%and(-%pi/2 < parg(3-%c41),-%pi/2 < parg(%c41-2),
                        -%pi/2 < parg(%c41),parg(3-%c41) <= %pi/2,
                        parg(%c41-2) <= %pi/2,parg(%c41) <= %pi/2),
                  [x = %c41^2+1],%union()))

This is kind of hard to read, but basically if the complex number %c41
satisfies the conditions in the %if, then %c41^2+1 is a solution.  If we're
interested in just real solutions, I think the %if simplifies to 2<= %c41
<= 3, which means 5 <= x <= 10.

Ray