Dear Maxima list members,
the limit command (maxima 5.29, but this does not depend much on the
version) shows strange behaviour in several cases.
We discovered them when we asked students to calculate derivatives using
the limit command.
Example 1)
limit((exp(x+h)-exp(x))/h,h,0);
Asks if x is an integer, but the (correct) result %e^x does not depend
on the answer given.
This problem would not appear if L'Hopitals rules was used.
The very same behavious shows limit((exp(q*x)-exp(x))/(q*x-x),q,1);
Example 2)
limit((log(y+h)-log(y))/h,h,0);
This gives infinity. However, after saying assume(x>0), or alternatively
assume(x<0) or even assume(equal(x,0)) the result 1/x is produced.
Example 3)
limit((exp(q*x)-exp(x))/(q*x-x),q,1);
This gives division by zero
Any ideas?
Reinhard Oldenburg