>>>>> "maryam" == maryam shamssolary <shamssolary at gmail.com> writes:
maryam> Dear Master
maryam> I am a young researcher in numerical linear algebra. For some calculations, I used your "Maxima"
maryam> software. But I have some problems with some commands such as:
maryam> ?integrate(1/(r+s*x+t*x^2)*1/sqrt(1-x^2), x, -1, 1);
maryam> give me this message:?
maryam> "Is? "4*r*t-s^2"? positive, negative, or zero?"
maryam> I tried different answers but did not?! What do you suggest?
Maxima cannot do all integrals of this form. It appears that maxima
can only do this if t*x^2+s*x+r has real roots. The case for complex
roots is not handled. This is why maxima is asking for the sign of
4*r*t-s^2. The roots are real if 4*r*t-s^2 is zero or negative.
After this maxima may ask many more questions as it breaks the
original integral into two new integrals. I find the questions hard to
answer. :-(
You might get a feel for what is going on by using some numerical
values for r, s, and t.
Sorry that maxima can't easily produce an answer for you.
Ray