simplify() does not work?

asked 2011-05-04 10:35:34 +0100

ryszard314159
31 ●1 ●2 ●3

updated 2011-05-04 11:46:43 +0100

kcrisman
12242 ●42 ●136 ●255

I enter:

sage: a, b = var('a, b'); simplify((a + b)^2 - a^2 - 2*a*b - b^2)

and I would expect 0 (i.e. zero) as a result from simplify(), but instead I get back unmodified:

(a + b)^2 - a^2 - 2*a*b - b^2

Am I missing anything? I just started using it and it looks very promissing...

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answered 2011-05-04 11:27:48 +0100

John Palmieri

8876 ●19 ●73 ●192 http://www.math.washin...

There are different simplify functions. Try this:

sage: var('a b')
(a, b)
sage: f = ((a + b)^2 - a^2 - 2*a*b - b^2)
sage: f.simplify()  # as you had
(a + b)^2 - a^2 - 2*a*b - b^2
sage: f.simplify_full()
0

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To the original poster - note the 'dot' notation in this case, where f.simplify() does the same things as simplify(f).

kcrisman ( 2011-05-04 11:46:55 +0100 )edit

Also note that you can type "f.simplify<tab>" to get a list of functions whose names start with "simplify". Once you've found one, like "f.simplify()" or "f.simplify_full()", I would recommend typing "f.simplify?" or "f.simplify_full?" to read the documentation.

John Palmieri ( 2011-05-04 13:13:26 +0100 )edit

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Asked: 2011-05-04 10:35:34 +0100

Seen: 948 times

Last updated: May 04 '11

simplify() does not work? edit