2012/12/9 Oliver Kullmann <O.Kullmann at swansea.ac.uk>:
> Hello,
>
> there is a long-standing problem with the package gf:
Hello Oliver,
for that reason gf was fully reviewed. There are about 2000 new lines
of code. I do not expect they are free of bugs. So you are invited to
find some.
> The documentation says that gf_exp(p,n) can be used for "integer power",
> but for example n=-1 seems always to run into an infinite loop, so
> for example using the example from the documentation:
>
> gf_exp(x^3+x,-1);
To which documentation do you refer? The original authors and I both
have simply forgotten negative exponents.
This bug is now fixed in git. (It's in branch master, so won't be part
of 5.29 I guess).
Thanks for pointing on this.
Volker
PS: Also in git (but not part of 5.29) is implemented what you
proposed in an earlier mail: gf_set now returns a structure which
contains all data to allow 'gf_set_again(structure)' to construct the
same field from this data without a second computation.
> And actually, every negative power seems to run into an infinite loop,
> for example:
>
> gf_exp(x^3+x,-14);
>
>
> By the way, the documentation following that example says:
>
> Primitive elements, powers and logarithms
> The non-zero elements of a finite field form a multiplicative group; a
> generator of this group is a
> primitive element of the field.
>
>
> What is a "multiplicative group"? I guess what is meant is that the
> non-zero elements under multiplication form a *cyclic group*.
>
> Greetings
>
> Oliver
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 03, 2012 at 08:11:20PM +0000, Robert Dodier wrote:
>> FWIW I've created a branch-5_29 and tagged 5.29.0 on it. I've built rpms
>> and uploaded them and tar.gz to the SF file manager. See:
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/maxima/files
>>
>> If someone can create a Windows installer, that would be terrific.
>>
>> Please give it a try and let us know how it turns out. I'll create
>> additional 5.29 releases as needed, with a public announcement once we
>> get to a stable version.
>>
>> best
>>
>> Robert Dodier
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Maxima mailing list
>> Maxima at math.utexas.edu
>> http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima
>
> --
> Dr. Oliver Kullmann
> Department of Computer Science
> College of Science, Swansea University
> Faraday Building, Singleton Park
> Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
> http://cs.swan.ac.uk/~csoliver/
> _______________________________________________
> Maxima mailing list
> Maxima at math.utexas.edu
> http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima