sign



Yes, I'm afraid that sign/asksign aren't very complete.  In general,
sign/asksign doesn't do any sort of interval arithmetic or zero-finding to
determine signs.

assume(x>1,x<2);
sign(4*x-x^2) => pos      <<< determined by factorization
sign(4*x-x^2+1) => pnz   <<< can't factor, so gives up; interval arith
would give (4,8) - (1,2) + 1 = (3,8)

We should be able to do better!

               -s

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 01:54, <leon.magiera at wp.pl> wrote:

>
> I want to get the result of calculation (simplification)
>
>          assume( x>0, x<%pi/2 );
>          sign(cos(x));
>
> I expect to get 1, whereas MAXIMA returns:
>
>         pnz
>
>
> Leon
>
>
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