In Maxima, using a decimal point in a number indicates you want to
calculate with floating-point (approximate) numbers, so the result will
often not be exact.
For exact calculations, use fractions, e.g.
3^(1/2)/(2-3^(1/2)) - (2*3^(1/2)+3)/(4-3)
or
sqrt(3)/(2-sqrt(3)) - (2*sqrt(3)+3)/(4-3)
Then you can use any one of Maxima's functions to reorganize/simplify the
expression. In this case, ratsimp gives 0; in other cases, you may want to
try radcan, expand, factor, etc.
-s
On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 08:14, rene kaelin <renekaelin at gmx.ch> wrote:
> Dear Maxima users
>
> 3^0.5/(2-3^0.5) - (2*3^0.5+3)/(4-3)
>
> is simplified to
>
> -2.664535259100376e-15
>
> How can I simplify it to 0?
>
>
>
>
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