Re: [Maxima-discuss] simplify & radical form in Maxima

[Evan C. <eva...@gm...>]

Thanks for the insights. Makes some sense, given my understanding of how 
Maxima 'works'.

On 5/29/2018 7:39 PM, Stavros Macrakis (Σταῦρος Μακράκης) wrote:
> Maxima has a canonical form for many things. There's no way to force 
> it to write 1 2/3 or 1+2/3 instead of 5/3 or 2*sqrt(2) instead of 
> 2^(3/2). The simplifier immediately converts 2*sqrt(2) into 2^(3/2). 
> On the other hand, the general simplifier leaves 2*sqrt(6) alone; you 
> need radcan to transform it to 2^(3/2)*sqrt(3).
>
> All that being said, it is pretty trivial to work with /unsimplified 
> /expressions yourself using the pattern matching routines or simple 
> recursing through the expression. Of course, you'll have to decide 
> whether you prefer 1/sqrt(2) or sqrt(2)/2; sqrt(6) or sqrt(2)*sqrt(3); 
> whether you want to simplify sqrt(6)/sqrt(21) to sqrt(2)/sqrt(7); etc.
>
> On Tue, May 29, 2018 at 7:10 PM, Evan Cooch <eva...@gm... 
> <mailto:eva...@gm...>> wrote:
>
>     My son who is toiling away in middle school math asked me if there
>     was a simple way using a CAS to re-write expressions in simplest
>     radical form. For example, enter sqrt(8), and have the CAS return
>     2 * sqrt(2).
>
>     I know how to do this in Maple, or Mathematica (e.g, in Maple,
>     convert(sqrt(8),radical) will suffice), but I wanted to show him
>     ho to do it in Maxima (I'm try to encourage him to use Open
>     Source, etc). But, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to
>     get Maxima to return something in simplest radical form, in  a
>     format that will be 'obvious' to him. I've made a few token
>     attempts using radcan, but
>
>     radcan(sqrt(8))
>
>     returns 2^(3/2), which *I* know is equivalent to 2 * sqrt(2), but
>     my son might not (although I'd be impressed if he did).
>
>     Is there a straightforward way, in Maxima, to simplify (say)
>     sqrt(8) --> 2 * sqrt(2) (and have it look like that -- 222\sqrt{2})?
>
>     Thanks in advance...
>
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