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Reduce bug?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg63173] Reduce bug?
• From: "François Wirion" <wirion at gmail.com>
• Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 07:22:33 -0500 (EST)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

In[22]:=$Version
Out[22]=5.2 for Microsoft Windows (June 20, 2005)

Trying to reduce the following simple non-algebraic equation, I get the
following:
In[7]:=
Reduce[4^n*(n - 1)*(n - 2) == 0, n]
Out[7]=
True

This is of course a bit odd since e.g. when n = 0,
In[23]:=
4^n*(n - 1)*(n - 2) == 0 /. n -> 0
Out[23]=
False

It seems that this problem occurs not only with 4^n in the equation but
more generally for even integers other than -2, 0 and 2. I had a look
through the archives but could not find a related entry on a first
glance.