> Thanks for working on this.  I feel pretty strongly that it should be done, 
> because we are always
> running into problems because of it.  If it were not done automatically, it 
> would not be a problem
> because we could just write some expand function that does it manually 
> whenever we need it
> done (the reverse is not possible with automatic simplification).

That's what I was thinking.  I'm hoping that the solution to some of
the infinite recursions is just finding the right place for a
judicious expand.


> What do you need the behavior for, our of curiosity?

I'm working on an application to give my students (generally College
Algebra through lightweight applied Calculus) more practice problems,
with immediate feedback.  I decided it was necessary after spending an
hour with one student who wanted help with integrating exponentials,
and most of what I did after the first ten minutes was just "okay, now
do e**(5x)... now do e**(17x)"

Of course, sympy is almost overkill for this, but it will make writing
questions and especially comparing a student's response to the correct
answer easier.  But one of the main things I would want to have is a
factoring practice (it's shocking how many Cal I students don't know
how to factor well enough to be useful) I need to be able to sympify
something like 2*(x+3)*(x+5) and have it be recognized as equal to
2*(x+5)*(x+3), without using expand.  (I certainly don't want them to
be told it's correct if they just enter the original polynomial.)  I
think if I can fix this one sticking point, and give it a spiffy gui,
it will be perfect.

My back-up plan, if I can't fix things properly, is to strip out the
parts I won't need, and use a sort of sympy-lite.  I'd rather get it
working properly and have something to contribute back, though.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"sympy" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en.

Reply via email to