Re: [Maxima-discuss] sqrt, division by zero, radcan, integrate ..

[Stavros M. <mac...@gm...>]

On Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM Richard Fateman <fa...@gm...> wrote:

> ...
> 4. You may also  encounter situations where Maxima gives a result for
> sqrt() involving abs.
>   For example sqrt((1-k)^2)  returns |k-1|.  I think this is a  bug,
> others think it is a feature.
>

With *domain=complex*, this simplification isn't performed. This is a bit
confusing, because of course *real* numbers have two square roots, too.

That setting only applies to symbolic arguments. *sqrt(4)* and
*sqrt(-1) *continue
to be *2* and *%i.*

Still, *sqrt(%i) *is *(-1)^(1/4)*, regardless of the setting of *domain*.

*rectform *etc. are forced to choose a branch.