[Maxima-discuss] complex numbers in Maxima and lisp / a warning?

[Richard F. <fa...@be...>]

It is possible to construct complex numbers in lisp  (though so far we have
mostly avoided it....) . The simplest way is

:lisp   (setf $k #c(1 3)

now
k;  prints as 3 %i+1
however,  k -3*%i -1
prints as 0 + 3 %i - 3 %i.

There are other anomalies, such as

ratcoef(k,%i) returns 0.
k+1/2 signals an error.
sin(k) signals an error

Just a suggestion -- Be careful in case you are using lisp and it can
produce complex numbers.  Note also, if you are using lisp and
produce rational numbers, Maxima structures differ there too.