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Next: Functions and Variables for Simplification, Previous: Simplification, Up: Simplification [Contents][Index]
Maxima interacts with the user through a cycle of actions called the read-eval-print loop (REPL). This consists of three steps: reading and parsing, evaluating and simplifying, and outputting. Parsing converts a syntactically valid sequence of typed characters into a internal data structure. Evaluation replaces variable and function names with their values and simplification rewrites expressions to be easier for the user or other programs to understand. Output displays results in a variety of different formats and notations.
Evaluation and simplification sometimes appear to have similar functionality, and
Maxima uses simplification in many cases where other systems use evaluation.
For example, arithmetic both on numbers and on symbolic expressions is simplification, not evaluation:
2+2 simplifies to 4, 2+x+x simplifies to 2+2*x, and
sqrt(7)^4 simplifies to 49.
Evaluation and simplification are interleaved.
For example, factor(integrate(x+1,x)) first calls the built-in function integrate,
giving x+x*x*2^-1;
that simplifies to x+(1/2)*x^2; this in turn is passed to the factor function,
which returns (x*(x+2))/2.
Evaluation is what makes Maxima a programming language: it implements functions, subroutines, variables, values, loops, assignments and so on. Evaluation replaces built-in or user-defined function names by their definitions and variables by their values. This is largely the same as activities of a conventional programming language, but extended to work with symbolic mathematical data. The system has various optional "flags" which the user can set to control the details of evaluation. See Functions and Variables for Evaluation.
Simplification maintains the value of an expression
while re-formulating its form to be smaller, simpler to understand, or to
conform to a particular specification (like expanded). For
example, sin(%pi/2) to 1, and x+x to 2*x.
There are many flags which control simplification. For example,
with triginverses:true, atan(tan(x)) does not simplify to x,
but with triginverses:all, it does.
Simplification can be provided in three ways:
simplifying subsystem.
The internal simplifier belongs to the heart of Maxima. It is a large and complicated collection of programs, and it has been refined over many years and by thousands of users. Nevertheless, especially if you are trying out novel ideas or unconventional notation, you may find it helpful to make small (or large) changes to the program yourself. For details see for example the paper at the end of https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~fateman/papers/intro5.txt.
Maxima internally represents expressions as "trees" with operators or "roots"
like +, * , = and operands ("leaves") which are variables like
x, y, z, functions
or sub-trees, like x*y. Each operator has a simplification program
associated with it. + (which also covers binary - since
a-b = a+(-1)*b) and * (which also covers /
since a/b = a*b^(-1)) have rather elaborate simplification programs. These
simplification programs (simplus, simptimes, simpexpt, etc.) are called whenever
the simplifier encounters the respective arithmetic operators in an expression
tree to be analyzed.
The structure of the simplifier dates back to 1965, and many hands have worked on it through the years. It is data-directed, or object-oriented in the sense that it dispatches to the appropriate routine depending on the root of some sub-tree of the expression, recursively. This general approach means that modifications to simplification are generally localized. In many cases it is straightforward to add an operator and its simplification routine without disturbing existing code.
Maxima also provides a variety of transformation routines that can change the form of an
expression, including factor (polynomial factorization), horner
(reorganize a polynomial using Horner’s rule), partfrac
(rewrite a rational function as partial fractions),
trigexpand (apply the sum formulas for trigonometric functions),
and so on.
Users can also write routines that change the form of an expression.
Besides this general simplifier operating on algebraic
expression trees, there are several other representations of expressions in
Maxima which have separate methods. For example, the
rat function converts polynomials to vectors of coefficients to
assist in rapid manipulation of such forms. Other representations include
Taylor series and the (rarely used) Poisson series.
All operators introduced by the user initially have no simplification
programs associated with them. Maxima does not know anything about
function "f" and so typing f(a,b) will result in simplifying
a,b, but not f.
Even some built-in operators have no simplifications. For example,
= does not "simplify" – it is a place-holder with no
simplification semantics other
than to simplify its two arguments, in this case referred to as the left and
right sides. Other parts of Maxima such as the solve program take special
note of equations, that is, trees with = as the root.
(Note – in Maxima, the assignment operation is : . That is, q: 4
sets the value of the symbol q to 4.
Function definition is done with :=. )
The general simplifier returns results with an internal flag indicating the expression and each sub-expression has been simplified. This does not guarantee that it is unique over all possible equivalent expressions. That’s too hard (theoretically, not possible given the generality of what can be expressed in Maxima). However, some aspects of the expression, such as the ordering of terms in a sum or product, are made uniform. This is important for the other programs to work properly.
A number of option variables control simplification. Indeed, simplification
can be turned off entirely using simp:false. However, many
internal routines will not operate correctly with simp:false.
(About the only time it seems plausible to turn off the simplifier
is in the rare case that you want to over-ride a built-in simplification.
In that case you might temporarily disable the simplifier, put in the new
transformation via tellsimp, and then re-enable the simplifier
by simp:true.)
It is more plausible for you to associate user-defined symbolic function names
or operators with properties (additive,
lassociative, oddfun, antisymmetric,
linear, outative, commutative,
multiplicative, rassociative, evenfun,
nary and symmetric). These options steer
the simplifier processing in systematic directions.
For example, declare(f,oddfun) specifies that f is an odd function.
Maxima will simplify f(-x) to -f(x). In the case of an even
function, that is declare(g,evenfun),
Maxima will simplify g(-x) to g(x). You can also associate a
programming function with a name such as h(x):=x^2+1. In that case the
evaluator will immediately replace
h(3) by 10, and h(a+1) by (a+1)^2+1, so any properties
of h will be ignored.
In addition to these directly related properties set up by the user, facts and properties from the actual context may have an impact on the simplifier’s behavior, too. See Introduction to Maxima’s Database.
Example: sin(n*%pi) is simplified to zero, if n is an integer.
(%i1) sin(n*%pi); (%o1) sin(%pi n)
(%i2) declare(n, integer); (%o2) done
(%i3) sin(n*%pi); (%o3) 0
If automated simplification is not sufficient, you can consider a variety of
built-in, but explicitly called simplfication functions (ratsimp,
expand, factor, radcan and others). There are
also flags that will push simplification into one or another direction.
Given demoivre:true the simplifier rewrites
complex exponentials as trigonometric forms. Given exponentialize:true
the simplifier tries to do the reverse: rewrite trigonometric forms as complex
exponentials.
As everywhere in Maxima, by writing your own functions (be it in the Maxima user language or in the implementation language Lisp) and explicitly calling them at selected places in the program, you can respond to your individual simplification needs. Lisp gives you a handle on all the internal mechanisms, but you rarely need this full generality. "Tellsimp" is designed to generate much of the Lisp internal interface into the simplifier automatically. See See Rules and Patterns.
Over the years (Maxima/Macsyma’s origins date back to about 1966!) users have contributed numerous application packages and tools to extend or alter its functional behavior. Various non-standard and "share" packages exist to modify or extend simplification as well. You are invited to look into this more experimental material where work is still in progress See Package simplification.
The following appended material is optional on a first reading, and reading it
is not necessary for productive use of Maxima. It is for the curious user who
wants to understand what is going on, or the ambitious programmer who might
wish to change the (open-source) code. Experimentation with redefining Maxima
Lisp code is easily possible: to change the definition of a Lisp program (say
the one that simplifies cos(), named simp%cos), you simply
load into Maxima a text file that will overwrite the simp%cos function
from the maxima package.
Previous: Introduction to Simplification, Up: Simplification [Contents][Index]
If declare(f,additive) has been executed, then:
(1) If f is univariate, whenever the simplifier encounters f
applied to a sum, f will be distributed over that sum. I.e.
f(y+x) will simplify to f(y)+f(x).
(2) If f is a function of 2 or more arguments, additivity is defined as
additivity in the first argument to f, as in the case of sum or
integrate, i.e. f(h(x)+g(x),x) will simplify to
f(h(x),x)+f(g(x),x). This simplification does not occur when f is
applied to expressions of the form sum(x[i],i,lower-limit,upper-limit).
Example:
(%i1) F3 (a + b + c); (%o1) F3(c + b + a)
(%i2) declare (F3, additive); (%o2) done
(%i3) F3 (a + b + c); (%o3) F3(c) + F3(b) + F3(a)
If declare(h,antisymmetric) is done, this tells the simplifier that
h is antisymmetric. E.g. h(x,z,y) will simplify to
- h(x, y, z). That is, it will give (-1)^n times the result given by
symmetric or commutative, where n is the number of interchanges
of two arguments necessary to convert it to that form.
Examples:
(%i1) S (b, a); (%o1) S(b, a)
(%i2) declare (S, symmetric); (%o2) done
(%i3) S (b, a); (%o3) S(a, b)
(%i4) S (a, c, e, d, b); (%o4) S(a, b, c, d, e)
(%i5) T (b, a); (%o5) T(b, a)
(%i6) declare (T, antisymmetric); (%o6) done
(%i7) T (b, a); (%o7) - T(a, b)
(%i8) T (a, c, e, d, b); (%o8) T(a, b, c, d, e)
Simplifies the sum expr by combining terms with the same denominator into a single term.
See also: rncombine.
Example:
(%i1) 1*f/2*b + 2*c/3*a + 3*f/4*b +c/5*b*a;
5 b f a b c 2 a c
(%o1) ----- + ----- + -----
4 5 3
(%i2) combine (%);
75 b f + 4 (3 a b c + 10 a c)
(%o2) -----------------------------
60
If declare(h, commutative) is done, this tells the simplifier that
h is a commutative function. E.g. h(x, z, y) will simplify to
h(x, y, z). This is the same as symmetric.
Example:
(%i1) S (b, a); (%o1) S(b, a)
(%i2) S (a, b) + S (b, a); (%o2) S(b, a) + S(a, b)
(%i3) declare (S, commutative); (%o3) done
(%i4) S (b, a); (%o4) S(a, b)
(%i5) S (a, b) + S (b, a); (%o5) 2 S(a, b)
(%i6) S (a, c, e, d, b); (%o6) S(a, b, c, d, e)
The function demoivre (expr) converts one expression
without setting the global variable demoivre.
When the variable demoivre is true, complex exponentials are
converted into equivalent expressions in terms of circular functions:
exp (a + b*%i) simplifies to %e^a * (cos(b) + %i*sin(b))
if b is free of %i. a and b are not expanded.
The default value of demoivre is false.
exponentialize converts circular and hyperbolic functions to exponential
form. demoivre and exponentialize cannot both be true at the same
time.
Distributes sums over products. It differs from expand in that it works
at only the top level of an expression, i.e., it doesn’t recurse and it is
faster than expand. It differs from multthru in that it expands
all sums at that level.
Examples:
(%i1) distrib ((a+b) * (c+d));
(%o1) b d + a d + b c + a c
(%i2) multthru ((a+b) * (c+d));
(%o2) (b + a) d + (b + a) c
(%i3) distrib (1/((a+b) * (c+d)));
1
(%o3) ---------------
(b + a) (d + c)
(%i4) expand (1/((a+b) * (c+d)), 1, 0);
1
(%o4) ---------------------
b d + a d + b c + a c
Default value: true
distribute_over controls the mapping of functions over bags like lists,
matrices, and equations. At this time not all Maxima functions have this
property. It is possible to look up this property with the command
properties..
The mapping of functions is switched off, when setting distribute_over
to the value false.
Examples:
The sin function maps over a list:
(%i1) sin([x,1,1.0]); (%o1) [sin(x), sin(1), 0.8414709848078965]
mod is a function with two arguments which maps over lists. Mapping over
nested lists is possible too:
(%i1) mod([x,11,2*a],10); (%o1) [mod(x, 10), 1, 2 mod(a, 5)]
(%i2) mod([[x,y,z],11,2*a],10); (%o2) [[mod(x, 10), mod(y, 10), mod(z, 10)], 1, 2 mod(a, 5)]
Mapping of the floor function over a matrix and an equation:
(%i1) floor(matrix([a,b],[c,d]));
[ floor(a) floor(b) ]
(%o1) [ ]
[ floor(c) floor(d) ]
(%i2) floor(a=b); (%o2) floor(a) = floor(b)
Functions with more than one argument map over any of the arguments or all arguments:
(%i1) expintegral_e([1,2],[x,y]);
(%o1) [[expintegral_e(1, x), expintegral_e(1, y)],
[expintegral_e(2, x), expintegral_e(2, y)]]
Check if a function has the property distribute_over:
(%i1) properties(abs);
(%o1) [integral, rule, distributes over bags, noun, gradef,
system function]
The mapping of functions is switched off, when setting distribute_over
to the value false.
(%i1) distribute_over; (%o1) true
(%i2) sin([x,1,1.0]); (%o2) [sin(x), sin(1), 0.8414709848078965]
(%i3) distribute_over : not distribute_over; (%o3) false
(%i4) sin([x,1,1.0]); (%o4) sin([x, 1, 1.0])
Default value: real
When domain is set to complex, sqrt (x^2) will remain
sqrt (x^2) instead of returning abs(x).
declare(f, evenfun) or declare(f, oddfun) tells Maxima to recognize
the function f as an even or odd function.
Examples:
(%i1) o (- x) + o (x); (%o1) o(x) + o(- x) (%i2) declare (o, oddfun); (%o2) done (%i3) o (- x) + o (x); (%o3) 0 (%i4) e (- x) - e (x); (%o4) e(- x) - e(x) (%i5) declare (e, evenfun); (%o5) done (%i6) e (- x) - e (x); (%o6) 0
Expand expression expr. Products of sums and exponentiated sums are multiplied out, numerators of rational expressions which are sums are split into their respective terms, and multiplication (commutative and non-commutative) are distributed over addition at all levels of expr.
For polynomials one should usually use ratexpand which uses a
more efficient algorithm.
maxnegex and maxposex control the maximum negative and
positive exponents, respectively, which will expand.
expand (expr, p, n) expands expr,
using p for maxposex and n for maxnegex.
This is useful in order to expand part but not all of an expression.
expon - the exponent of the largest negative power which is
automatically expanded (independent of calls to expand). For example
if expon is 4 then (x+1)^(-5) will not be automatically expanded.
expop - the highest positive exponent which is automatically expanded.
Thus (x+1)^3, when typed, will be automatically expanded only if
expop is greater than or equal to 3. If it is desired to have
(x+1)^n expanded where n is greater than expop then
executing expand ((x+1)^n) will work only if maxposex is not
less than n.
expand(expr, 0, 0) causes a resimplification of expr. expr
is not reevaluated. In distinction from ev(expr, noeval) a special
representation (e. g. a CRE form) is removed. See also ev.
The expand flag used with ev causes expansion.
The file share/simplification/facexp.mac
contains several related functions (in particular facsum,
factorfacsum and collectterms, which are autoloaded) and variables
(nextlayerfactor and facsum_combine) that provide the user with
the ability to structure expressions by controlled expansion.
Brief function descriptions are available in simplification/facexp.usg.
A demo is available by doing demo("facexp").
Examples:
(%i1) expr:(x+1)^2*(y+1)^3;
2 3
(%o1) (x + 1) (y + 1)
(%i2) expand(expr);
2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2
(%o2) x y + 2 x y + y + 3 x y + 6 x y + 3 y + 3 x y
2
+ 6 x y + 3 y + x + 2 x + 1
(%i3) expand(expr,2);
2 3 3 3
(%o3) x (y + 1) + 2 x (y + 1) + (y + 1)
(%i4) expr:(x+1)^-2*(y+1)^3;
3
(y + 1)
(%o4) --------
2
(x + 1)
(%i5) expand(expr);
3 2
y 3 y 3 y 1
(%o5) ------------ + ------------ + ------------ + ------------
2 2 2 2
x + 2 x + 1 x + 2 x + 1 x + 2 x + 1 x + 2 x + 1
(%i6) expand(expr,2,2);
3
(y + 1)
(%o6) ------------
2
x + 2 x + 1
Resimplify an expression without expansion:
(%i1) expr:(1+x)^2*sin(x);
2
(%o1) (x + 1) sin(x)
(%i2) exponentialize:true; (%o2) true
(%i3) expand(expr,0,0);
2 %i x - %i x
%i (x + 1) (%e - %e )
(%o3) - -------------------------------
2
Expands expression expr with respect to the
variables x_1, …, x_n.
All products involving the variables appear explicitly. The form returned
will be free of products of sums of expressions that are not free of
the variables. x_1, …, x_n
may be variables, operators, or expressions.
By default, denominators are not expanded, but this can be controlled by
means of the switch expandwrt_denom.
This function is autoloaded from simplification/stopex.mac.
Default value: false
expandwrt_denom controls the treatment of rational
expressions by expandwrt. If true, then both the numerator and
denominator of the expression will be expanded according to the
arguments of expandwrt, but if expandwrt_denom is false,
then only the numerator will be expanded in that way.
is similar to expandwrt, but treats expressions that are products
somewhat differently. expandwrt_factored expands only on those factors
of expr that contain the variables x_1, …, x_n.
This function is autoloaded from simplification/stopex.mac.
Default value: 0
expon is the exponent of the largest negative power which
is automatically expanded (independent of calls to expand). For
example, if expon is 4 then (x+1)^(-5) will not be automatically
expanded.
The function exponentialize (expr) converts
circular and hyperbolic functions in expr to exponentials,
without setting the global variable exponentialize.
When the variable exponentialize is true,
all circular and hyperbolic functions are converted to exponential form.
The default value is false.
demoivre converts complex exponentials into circular functions.
exponentialize and demoivre cannot
both be true at the same time.
Default value: 0
expop is the highest positive exponent which is automatically expanded.
Thus (x + 1)^3, when typed, will be automatically expanded only if
expop is greater than or equal to 3. If it is desired to have
(x + 1)^n expanded where n is greater than expop then
executing expand ((x + 1)^n) will work only if maxposex is not
less than n.
declare (g, lassociative) tells the Maxima simplifier that g is
left-associative. E.g., g (g (a, b), g (c, d)) will simplify to
g (g (g (a, b), c), d).
See also rassociative.
One of Maxima’s operator properties. For univariate f so
declared, "expansion" f(x + y) yields f(x) + f(y),
f(a*x) yields a*f(x) takes
place where a is a "constant". For functions of two or more arguments,
"linearity" is defined to be as in the case of sum or integrate,
i.e., f (a*x + b, x) yields a*f(x,x) + b*f(1,x)
for a and b free of x.
Example:
(%i1) declare (f, linear); (%o1) done
(%i2) f(x+y); (%o2) f(y) + f(x)
(%i3) declare (a, constant); (%o3) done
(%i4) f(a*x); (%o4) a f(x)
linear is equivalent to additive and outative.
See also opproperties.
Example:
(%i1) 'sum (F(k) + G(k), k, 1, inf);
inf
====
\
(%o1) > (G(k) + F(k))
/
====
k = 1
(%i2) declare (nounify (sum), linear); (%o2) done
(%i3) 'sum (F(k) + G(k), k, 1, inf);
inf inf
==== ====
\ \
(%o3) > G(k) + > F(k)
/ /
==== ====
k = 1 k = 1
Default value: 1000
maxnegex is the largest negative exponent which will
be expanded by the expand command, see also maxposex.
Default value: 1000
maxposex is the largest exponent which will be
expanded with the expand command, see also maxnegex.
declare(f, multiplicative) tells the Maxima simplifier that f
is multiplicative.
f is univariate, whenever the simplifier encounters f applied
to a product, f distributes over that product. E.g., f(x*y)
simplifies to f(x)*f(y).
This simplification is not applied to expressions of the form f('product(...)).
f is a function of 2 or more arguments, multiplicativity is
defined as multiplicativity in the first argument to f, e.g.,
f (g(x) * h(x), x) simplifies to f (g(x) ,x) * f (h(x), x).
declare(nounify(product), multiplicative) tells Maxima to simplify symbolic products.
Example:
(%i1) F2 (a * b * c); (%o1) F2(a b c)
(%i2) declare (F2, multiplicative); (%o2) done
(%i3) F2 (a * b * c); (%o3) F2(a) F2(b) F2(c)
declare(nounify(product), multiplicative) tells Maxima to simplify symbolic products.
(%i1) product (a[i] * b[i], i, 1, n);
n
/===\
! !
(%o1) ! ! a b
! ! i i
i = 1
(%i2) declare (nounify (product), multiplicative); (%o2) done
(%i3) product (a[i] * b[i], i, 1, n);
n n
/===\ /===\
! ! ! !
(%o3) ( ! ! a ) ! ! b
! ! i ! ! i
i = 1 i = 1
Multiplies a factor (which should be a sum) of expr by the other factors
of expr. That is, expr is f_1 f_2 ... f_n
where at least one factor, say f_i, is a sum of terms. Each term in that
sum is multiplied by the other factors in the product. (Namely all the factors
except f_i). multthru does not expand exponentiated sums.
This function is the fastest way to distribute products (commutative or
noncommutative) over sums. Since quotients are represented as products
multthru can be used to divide sums by products as well.
multthru (expr_1, expr_2) multiplies each term in
expr_2 (which should be a sum or an equation) by expr_1. If
expr_1 is not itself a sum then this form is equivalent to
multthru (expr_1*expr_2).
(%i1) x/(x-y)^2 - 1/(x-y) - f(x)/(x-y)^3;
1 x f(x)
(%o1) - ----- + -------- - --------
x - y 2 3
(x - y) (x - y)
(%i2) multthru ((x-y)^3, %);
2
(%o2) - (x - y) + x (x - y) - f(x)
(%i3) ratexpand (%);
2
(%o3) - y + x y - f(x)
(%i4) ((a+b)^10*s^2 + 2*a*b*s + (a*b)^2)/(a*b*s^2);
10 2 2 2
(b + a) s + 2 a b s + a b
(%o4) ------------------------------
2
a b s
(%i5) multthru (%); /* note that this does not expand (b+a)^10 */
10
2 a b (b + a)
(%o5) - + --- + ---------
s 2 a b
s
(%i6) multthru (a.(b+c.(d+e)+f));
(%o6) a . f + a . c . (e + d) + a . b
(%i7) expand (a.(b+c.(d+e)+f));
(%o7) a . f + a . c . e + a . c . d + a . b
declare(f, nary) tells Maxima to recognize the function f as an
n-ary function.
The nary declaration is not the same as calling the
nary function. The sole effect of
declare(f, nary) is to instruct the Maxima simplifier to flatten nested
expressions, for example, to simplify foo(x, foo(y, z)) to
foo(x, y, z). See also declare.
Example:
(%i1) H (H (a, b), H (c, H (d, e))); (%o1) H(H(a, b), H(c, H(d, e))) (%i2) declare (H, nary); (%o2) done (%i3) H (H (a, b), H (c, H (d, e))); (%o3) H(a, b, c, d, e)
Default value: true
When negdistrib is true, -1 distributes over an expression.
E.g., -(x + y) becomes - y - x. Setting it to false
will allow - (x + y) to be displayed like that. This is sometimes useful
but be very careful: like the simp flag, this is one flag you do not
want to set to false as a matter of course or necessarily for other
than local use in your Maxima.
Example:
(%i1) negdistrib; (%o1) true
(%i2) -(x+y); (%o2) (- y) - x
(%i3) negdistrib : not negdistrib ; (%o3) false
(%i4) -(x+y); (%o4) - (y + x)
opproperties is the list of the special operator properties recognized
by the Maxima simplifier.
Items are added to the opproperties list by the function define_opproperty.
Example:
(%i1) opproperties; (%o1) [linear, additive, multiplicative, outative, evenfun, oddfun, commutative, symmetric, antisymmetric, nary, lassociative, rassociative]
Declares the symbol property_name to be an operator property,
which is simplified by simplifier_fn,
which may be the name of a Maxima or Lisp function or a lambda expression.
After define_opproperty is called,
functions and operators may be declared to have the property_name property,
and simplifier_fn is called to simplify them.
simplifier_fn must be a function of one argument, which is an expression in which the main operator is declared to have the property_name property.
simplifier_fn is called with the global flag simp disabled.
Therefore simplifier_fn must be able to carry out its simplification
without making use of the general simplifier.
define_opproperty appends property_name to the
global list opproperties.
define_opproperty returns done.
Example:
Declare a new property, identity, which is simplified by simplify_identity.
Declare that f and g have the new property.
(%i1) define_opproperty (identity, simplify_identity); (%o1) done
(%i2) simplify_identity(e) := first(e); (%o2) simplify_identity(e) := first(e)
(%i3) declare ([f, g], identity); (%o3) done
(%i4) f(10 + t); (%o4) t + 10
(%i5) g(3*u) - f(2*u); (%o5) u
declare(f, outative) tells the Maxima simplifier that constant factors
in the argument of f can be pulled out.
f is univariate, whenever the simplifier encounters f applied
to a product, that product will be partitioned into factors that are constant
and factors that are not and the constant factors will be pulled out. E.g.,
f(a*x) will simplify to a*f(x) where a is a constant.
Non-atomic constant factors will not be pulled out.
f is a function of 2 or more arguments, outativity is defined as in
the case of sum or integrate, i.e., f (a*g(x), x) will
simplify to a * f(g(x), x) for a free of x.
sum, integrate, and limit are all outative.
Example:
(%i1) F1 (100 * x); (%o1) F1(100 x)
(%i2) declare (F1, outative); (%o2) done
(%i3) F1 (100 * x); (%o3) 100 F1(x)
(%i4) declare (zz, constant); (%o4) done
(%i5) F1 (zz * y); (%o5) zz F1(y)
Simplifies expr, which can contain logs, exponentials, and radicals, by
converting it into a form which is canonical over a large class of expressions
and a given ordering of variables; that is, all functionally equivalent forms
are mapped into a unique form. For a somewhat larger class of expressions,
radcan produces a regular form. Two equivalent expressions in this class
do not necessarily have the same appearance, but their difference can be
simplified by radcan to zero.
For some expressions radcan is quite time consuming. This is the cost
of exploring certain relationships among the components of the expression for
simplifications based on factoring and partial-fraction expansions of exponents.
Examples:
(%i1) radcan((log(x+x^2)-log(x))^a/log(1+x)^(a/2));
a/2
(%o1) log(x + 1)
(%i2) radcan((log(1+2*a^x+a^(2*x))/log(1+a^x))); (%o2) 2
(%i3) radcan((%e^x-1)/(1+%e^(x/2)));
x/2
(%o3) %e - 1
Default value: true
radexpand controls some simplifications of radicals.
When radexpand is all, causes nth roots of factors of a product
which are powers of n to be pulled outside of the radical. E.g. if
radexpand is all, sqrt (16*x^2) simplifies to 4*x.
More particularly, consider sqrt (x^2).
radexpand is all or assume (x > 0) has been executed,
sqrt(x^2) simplifies to x.
radexpand is true and domain is real
(its default), sqrt(x^2) simplifies to abs(x).
radexpand is false, or radexpand is true and
domain is complex, sqrt(x^2) is not simplified.
Note that domain only matters when radexpand is true.
declare (g, rassociative) tells the Maxima
simplifier that g is right-associative. E.g.,
g(g(a, b), g(c, d)) simplifies to g(a, g(b, g(c, d))).
See also lassociative.
Sequential Comparative Simplification (method due to Stoute).
scsimp attempts to simplify expr
according to the rules rule_1, …, rule_n.
If a smaller expression is obtained, the process repeats. Otherwise after all
simplifications are tried, it returns the original answer.
example (scsimp) displays some examples.
Default value: true
simp enables simplification. This is the default. simp is also
an evflag, which is recognized by the function ev. See ev.
When simp is used as an evflag with a value false, the
simplification is suppressed only during the evaluation phase of an expression.
The flag does not suppress the simplification which follows the evaluation
phase.
Many Maxima functions and operations require simplification to be enabled to work normally. When simplification is disabled, many results will be incomplete, and in addition there may be incorrect results or program errors.
Examples:
The simplification is switched off globally. The expression sin(1.0) is
not simplified to its numerical value. The simp-flag switches the
simplification on.
(%i1) simp:false; (%o1) false
(%i2) sin(1.0); (%o2) sin(1.0)
(%i3) sin(1.0),simp; (%o3) 0.8414709848078965
The simplification is switched on again. The simp-flag cannot suppress
the simplification completely. The output shows a simplified expression, but
the variable x has an unsimplified expression as a value, because the
assignment has occurred during the evaluation phase of the expression.
(%i1) simp:true; (%o1) true
(%i2) x:sin(1.0),simp:false; (%o2) 0.8414709848078965
(%i3) :lisp $x ((%SIN) 1.0)
declare (h, symmetric) tells the Maxima
simplifier that h is a symmetric function. E.g., h (x, z, y)
simplifies to h (x, y, z).
commutative is synonymous with symmetric.
Combines all terms of expr (which should be a sum) over a common
denominator without expanding products and exponentiated sums as ratsimp
does. xthru cancels common factors in the numerator and denominator of
rational expressions but only if the factors are explicit.
Sometimes it is better to use xthru before ratsimping an
expression in order to cause explicit factors of the gcd of the numerator and
denominator to be canceled thus simplifying the expression to be
ratsimped.
Examples:
(%i1) ((x+2)^20 - 2*y)/(x+y)^20 + (x+y)^(-19) - x/(x+y)^20;
20
1 (x + 2) - 2 y x
(%o1) --------- + --------------- - ---------
19 20 20
(y + x) (y + x) (y + x)
(%i2) xthru (%);
20
(x + 2) - y
(%o2) -------------
20
(y + x)
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