Differentiation and Polynomial questions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg20704] Differentiation and Polynomial questions
- From: "Danny Mathews" <dmathews at ticnet.com>
- Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 02:48:47 -0500
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I was using the "StepbyStepDifferentiation" package I found on the web site and it has raised a question for me. It seems that Mathematica ignores the Quotient Rule in general and uses the Product Rule for equations in a f(x)/g(x) format. This leaves the solution in a f(x) + g(x) format that I have to simplify to get the answer to agree with what I came up with using a pencil or on my TI-89 calculator. An example is (1+x^2)/(1-x^2). I came up with(as did my TI-89) 4x/((x^2-1)^2) for a solution. Mathematica gives a answer in the form of f(x) + g(x) that will simplify to the solution above. I tried several examples with the same scenario. Is there something I can do about this? Also, Mathematica displays polynomials with the powers written in ascending order which is opposite of how I was taught to write polynomials in standard form. Can this be changed? Bonus Question: My Calculus instructor loves piece-wise functions. Any info on plotting them would be helpful. Regards, Danny Mathews