how to test if 2 expressions are the same? Mathematica 5.0
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg46069] how to test if 2 expressions are the same? Mathematica 5.0
- From: nma124 at hotmail.com (steve_H)
- Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 04:02:50 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
hello; I am confused. many times, I want to find if there is a way to obtain one expression from another by tranformation. for example, we know that 1-sin^2(x) = cos^2(x), and a*log(x)=log(x^a), etc.., but sometimes this does not seem to work using SameQ: SameQ[a Log[x], Log[x^a] ] False I tried MatchQ and that also gives False. what is the right way to do these things in Mathematica? I checked the on-line help, and can't seem to see the right command for this. many thanks, STeve