the original was actually sqrt(2*x - 3) == 2 + sqrt(x+7) if that makes
a difference... hmmm

On Jan 21, 1:14 pm, Marshall Hampton <[email protected]> wrote:
> x=2 is not a solution of your original system.  When you solved by
> hand, presumably you squared things to eliminate the square root, but
> that introduced the spurious solution x=2.
>
> The solve command uses maxima currently, and I don't know exactly how
> it does things.  Perhaps someone else can comment.  For polynomial
> systems such solvers usually fall back on Groebner bases.  Since your
> equation isn't in polynomial form, I think a symbolic solver would
> have to convert it into such a form, and then somehow check the
> answers in a form equivalent to the original.  That seems hard but
> perhaps its been done for equations with square roots, or maybe there
> are other techniques.
>
> To get numerical solutions you can use the find_root command, and
> perhaps check an exact form using algdep.
>
> Hope that helps,
> Marshall Hampton
>
> On Jan 21, 12:14 am, Skylar <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I worked it out by hand to be x=2 or x=42.  I get nothing useful back
> > from sage.  What am I missing?
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