Re: [Maxima-discuss] elementary solve() problem

[Raymond T. <toy...@gm...>]

On 11/13/25 3:33 AM, richard christian wrote:

>
> Terrific. Thank you, Barton.
> And needless to say, apologies for the accidental repetition in the 
> first 6 lines of my example...
But do be careful with radcan in other situations. It makes assumptions 
when doing simplifications and can return results with the opposite sign 
of what you might expect.
>
> rc
>
> On 2025-11-13 11:23, Barton Willis wrote:
>> Try setting the option variable solveradcan to true before solving:
>>
>>  (%i1) solveradcan : true$
>>
>>  (%i2) solve(n*10^(n-1)=2*n*5^(n-1),n);
>>  (%o2) [n=0,n=2]
>>
>>  Alternatively, apply radcan before solving:
>>
>>  (%i1) radcan(n*10^(n-1)=2*n*5^(n-1));
>>  (%o1) 2^(n-1)*5^(n-1)*n=2*5^(n-1)*n
>>
>>  (%i2) solve(%,n);
>>  (%o2) [n=0,n=2]
>>
>>  For a list of additional option variables (and a bunch of other
>> stuff) that affect how solve works, try
>>
>>  (%i3) apropos (solve);
>>
>> (%o3) [desolve,funcsolve,globalsolve,linsolve,linsolve_by_lu,linsolve_params,linsolvewarn,solve,solve_congruences,solvedecomposes,solveexplicit,solvefactors, 
>>
>>
>>  Solvenullwarn,solveradcan,solvetrigwarn,tmlinsolve,to_poly_solve]
>>
>>  Thanks for your interest in Maxima! If you have more questions, feel
>> free to ask.
>>
>>  --Barton
>>
>> -------------------------
>>
>> From: richard christian <rp...@cl...>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2025 3:57 AM
>> To: max...@li...
>> <max...@li...>
>> Subject: [Maxima-discuss] elementary solve() problem
>>
>> Caution: Non-NU Email
>>
>> Apologies for this very novice question, but what am I doing wrong
>> here?
>> Why isn't Maxima giving n=2?
>>
>> (%i18)  s: t**n;
>> (s)     t^n
>> (%i19)  diff(s,t);
>> (%o19)  n*t^(n-1)
>> (%i20)  s: t**n;
>> (s)     t^n
>> (%i21)  diff(s,t);
>> (%o21)  n*t^(n-1)
>> (%i23)  ev(%,t=10) = 2*ev(%,t=5);
>> (%o23)  n*10^(n-1)=2*n*5^(n-1)
>> (%i24)  solve(%,n);
>> (%o24)  [n=0,10^(n-1)=2*5^(n-1)]
>>
>> Many thanks, Richard
>>
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>>
>
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