Thanks very much, that's exactly what I wanted!
-Alasdair
On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Barton Willis <willisb at unk.edu> wrote:
> (%i3) ratsimp((4715*7^(3/2)+87472) / (59460*sqrt(7)+157710)),algebraic :
> true;
> (%o3) (sqrt(7)+14)/30
>
> --Barton
> ------------------------------
> *From:* maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu [maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu]
> on behalf of Alasdair McAndrew [amca01 at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Sunday, April 14, 2013 21:04
> *To:* maxima list
> *Subject:* [Maxima] Simplifying fractions with radicals?
>
> I recently had this expression:
>
> (4715*7^(3/2)+87472) / (59460*sqrt(7)+157710)
>
> returned as the solution to a set of non-linear equations. Now
> by multiplying numerator and denominator by
>
> 59460*sqrt(7)-157710
>
> and simplifying with radcan, this expression simplifies to
>
> (\sqrt(7)+14)/30
>
> which is far simpler. But is there any more direct way of simplifying
> such an expression? Or, is there any way of obtaining the expression
>
> 59460*sqrt(7)-157710
>
> from the original output, without either copying or pasting, or fiddling
> about with parts of expressions? I mean, if
>
> b:(4715*7^(3/2)+87472) / (59460*sqrt(7)+157710);
>
> then I could write
>
> c:part(b,2,1)-part(b,2,2);
>
> and then
>
> radcan(radcan(num(b)*c)/radcan(denom(b)*c));
>
> This works fine - but I'm wondering if there's a more direct way.
>
> --
> Blog: http://amca01.wordpress.com
> Web: http://sites.google.com/site/amca01/
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>
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