Hello everybody!
In a recent thread [1], Nils Bruin mentionned that the default representation of
algebraic numbers does not really inspire trust:
sage: sqrt(2) # a symbolic ring element
sqrt(2)
sage: QQbar(sqrt(2)) # an algebraic value
1.414213562373095?
It is true that this final '?' sounds more like a '...', as if some additional
digits were hidden in a value stored as a float/double. Yet it is exact.
How could we replace it? Ideally, that would be a 'sqrt(2)' but can we always
provide such a representation cheaply? Could we display it as 'sqrt(2)' at least
when it is free to do so?
If we cannot get rid totally of this numerical representation, what would you
think of replacing this '?' by a 'alg', which would be (slightly) more
informative, e.g.:
sage: QQbar(sqrt(2)) # still not very trust-inspiring
1.414213562373095alg
Thaaaaaaaaaaanks,
Nathann
P.S.: If you know a word which means "that inspires trust", please
share it (in private :-P)
[1] https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sage-support/b6OinTC9mdk/Y_SLTILRI9kJ
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