No.  I just checked a definite integral interact in our calculus text.  It 
works fine to integrate x^(1/3) from 0 to 2, but when asked to integrate 
from -2 to 2, it returns the answer from 0 to 2.  It would be a great help 
to me to be able to tell students that cuberoot(x) is a legitimate function.

On Wednesday, June 18, 2014 9:55:37 AM UTC-4, William Stein wrote:
>
> Is this only something that comes up for plotting?  
>
> On Jun 18, 2014 4:11 AM, "David Joyner" <[email protected] <javascript:>> 
> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 2:34 AM,  <[email protected] <javascript:>> 
> wrote:
> > > This has been brought up many times before, but I'd like to bring up
> > > the possibility of adding two commands to Sage: cuberoot(x) and
> > > nthroot(x, n)
> > >
> >
> >
> > Just to be clear, if you defined nthroot in the obvious way, the code 
> would
> > check for each evaluation if n is an integer, then if even or odd, right?
> > Wouldn't that slow down a plot compared to what you have below?
> >
> >
> > > The reason is that currently plot( x^(1/3), -5, 5) only shows values 
> for
> > > x>0,
> > > and not for x<0. The current work-around recommended is
> > >
> > > plot(sign(x)*abs(x)^(1/3), -5, 5)
> > > (Track ticket #11458)
> > >
> > > which replaced the hideous
> > >
> > > plot(lambda x: RR(x).nth_root(3), -5, 5, plot_points=20)
> > >
> > > This is true in classes like Precalculus and Calculus 1, where trying 
> to
> > > explain
> > > workarounds like these would just really a headache for the instructor 
> and
> > > extremely fragile students.
> > >
> > > Also the cube root can occur in many other situations and applications.
> > > This is urgent, because my textbook "Sage for Undergraduates" is due
> > > at the American Mathematical Society on June 30th.
> > >
> > > The namespace is so huge, can't we just add two more commands?
> > >
> > > I suggest:
> > >
> > > def cuberoot(x):
> > >     return sign(x)*((x*sign(x))^(1/3))
> > >
> > > Last but not least, links to previous demands for exactly this problem:
> > >
> > > 
> https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg11563.html
> > > 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/sage-devel/_JeSMD-Kvfk/xeNstGrcvXQJ
> > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sage-support/icZ8ekC_P4Y
> > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sage-devel/_JeSMD-Kvfk
> > > http://trac.sagemath.org/ticket/11458
> > > https://sage.uwstout.edu/home/pub/32/
> > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sage-support/ZtRWScqMHMM
> > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sage-devel/_JeSMD-Kvfk
> > >
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