The output of solve
is a list of solutions in the form of equations x == ...
:
sage: sol = solve(x^3 - x == 3*x^2 - 1, x)
Get the value of each solution as the right-hand side ("rhs"):
sage: a, b, c = [s.rhs() for s in sol]
Or use solution_dict=True
to get solutions in dictionary form:
sage: sol = solve(x^3 - x == 3*x^2 - 1, x, solution_dict=True)
Then each solution s
is a dictionary of the form {x: ...}
and
one can get its value as s[x]
:
sage: a, b, c = [s[x] for s in sol]
In each case, we get:
sage: a
-1/2*(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3)*(I*sqrt(3) + 1) - 2/3*(-I*sqrt(3) + 1)/(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3) + 1
sage: b
-1/2*(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3)*(-I*sqrt(3) + 1) - 2/3*(I*sqrt(3) + 1)/(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3) + 1
sage: c
(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3) + 4/3/(1/9*I*sqrt(37)*sqrt(3) + 1)^(1/3) + 1
so it looks as though the solutions are non-real, since they involve I
.
This is because there are well-known formulas to express
solutions of cubic equations
using radicals, sometimes involving square roots of negative numbers
even when the final result is real.
Indeed, the results are real here, as we can check with the numerical_approx
method
(n
for short`):
sage: a.n()
0.460811127189111
sage: b.n()
-0.675130870566646 - 1.11022302462516e-16*I
sage: c.n()
3.21431974337754 - 5.55111512312578e-17*I
The numerical approximation is imperfect, and leaves a tiny imaginary component
(e-16
means *10^-16
) which however is only there due to rounding errors.
To get the results directly as exact algebraic numbers, and see directly
whether or not they are real, and what their decimal expansion looks like,
work with polynomials and their roots
method rather than with the symbolic ring
and the solve
function.
sage: x = polygen(ZZ)
sage: p = x^3 - x
sage: q = p - p.derivative()
sage: q
x^3 - 3*x^2 - x + 1
The method roots
will show (root, multiplicity)
pairs:
sage: q.roots(AA)
[(-0.6751308705666461?, 1), (0.4608111271891109?, 1), (3.214319743377535?, 1)]
unless one specifies multiplicities=False
:
sage: q.roots(AA, multiplicities=False)
[-0.6751308705666461?, 0.4608111271891109?, 3.214319743377535?]
I see the graph didn't show as an attachment. What am I doing wrong there?
Congratulations on formatting the code block!!
You can also format the inline portions of code with backticks.
This way, the
*
will show as*
instead of being interpreted as begin-italics and end-italics.How did you try to attach the graph? Ok, it seems repaired now.
Related question: Ask Sage question 9307: What is the best way to return only real solutions?