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Re: Re: simplification of 0/0 to 1?


I forgot to note that, according to Mathematica,

  1 == Indeterminate

is not False, so one can't hope to become famous simply by evaluating:

Implies[Simplify[(Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2 - 1)/(Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2 - 1)] ==
   Simplify[Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2 - 1]/
    Simplify[Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2 - 1], "The Riemann hypothesis is  
false."]

If your convention were to be adopted then, (as I showed below),   
there would be a chance.

Andrzej Kozlowski



Andrzej Kozlowski

On 12 Jun 2007, at 16:31, Andrzej Kozlowski wrote:

>
> I think if Mathematica followed your suggestion things might become  
> just too good to be true! Note that:
>
> Simplify[(2*Cos[x]^2 + 2*Sin[x]^2 - 2)/(Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2 - 1)]
> 2
>
> while
>
> Simplify[2*Cos[x]^2 + 2*Sin[x]^2 - 2]/Simplify[Cos[x]^2 + Sin[x]^2  
> - 1]
>
> would return 1 or 0 (or whatever the user specified, according to  
> your suggestion).
>
> At least the fact that you get Indeterminate with an error message  
> alerts you to what is going on, without that it would be easy to  
> "prove" that 1==2 or whatever you wished (and hide it so deeply in  
> an obscure "one-liner" nobody might notice). And since
>
> Implies[1 == 2, "The moon is made of green cheese"]
> True
>
> you could then prove anything you have ever wished to prove :-)
>
> Andrzej Kozlowski
>
>
>
>
> On 12 Jun 2007, at 14:27, Murray Eisenberg wrote:
>
>> The issue of what a piece of software should do about 0/0 -- even  
>> when
>> it arises in precisely that form, without any CAS first simplifying
>> algebraic expressions to reach that form -- is a sticky one.  The  
>> issue
>> was a mildly hot one many years ago in connection with the  
>> programming
>> language APL (from which parts of the Mathematica language are
>> descended).  Aside from the possibility of signaling an error,  
>> there are
>> two other "good" possibilities for 0/0: 0 and 1.  So I proposed in  
>> APL
>> that the handling be user-specifiable.
>>
>> The simple answer is that there is no good way to handle 0/0 that  
>> will
>> satisfy everyone.
>>
>> dimitris wrote:
>>> Hi fellas.
>>> This appeared in another forum as part of a question
>>> what another CAS does.
>>> Just of curiosity I check Mathematica's performance (5.2).
>>> The result was poor!
>>>
>>> Here is the expression
>>>
>>>
>>> In[16]:=
>>> o = (Log[2]*Cos[Pi/12] - Log[2]*Sin[Pi/12] - 2*Cos[Pi/12] + 2*Sin 
>>> [Pi/
>>> 12] + Sqrt[2] +
>>>     2*Log[Cos[Pi/12] - Sin[Pi/12]]*Cos[Pi/12] - 2*Log[Cos[Pi/12] -
>>> Sin[Pi/12]]*Sin[Pi/12])/
>>>    (Log[2]*Cos[Pi/12] - Log[2]*Sin[Pi/12] + 2*Log[Cos[Pi/12] -
>>> Sin[Pi/
>>> 12]]*Cos[Pi/12] -
>>>     2*Log[Cos[Pi/12] - Sin[Pi/12]]*Sin[Pi/12])
>>>
>>>
>>> Out[16]=
>>> (Sqrt[2] + (-1 + Sqrt[3])/Sqrt[2] - (1 + Sqrt[3])/Sqrt[2] - ((-1 +
>>> Sqrt[3])*Log[2])/(2*Sqrt[2]) +
>>>    ((1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[2])/(2*Sqrt[2]) - ((-1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[-((-1 +
>>> Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])) + (1 + Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])])/
>>>     Sqrt[2] + ((1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[-((-1 + Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])) +  
>>> (1 +
>>> Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])])/Sqrt[2])/
>>>   (-(((-1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[2])/(2*Sqrt[2])) + ((1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[2])/
>>> (2*Sqrt[2]) -
>>>    ((-1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[-((-1 + Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])) + (1 + Sqrt 
>>> [3])/
>>> (2*Sqrt[2])])/Sqrt[2] +
>>>    ((1 + Sqrt[3])*Log[-((-1 + Sqrt[3])/(2*Sqrt[2])) + (1 + Sqrt[3])/
>>> (2*Sqrt[2])])/Sqrt[2])
>>>
>>> Watch now a really bad performance!
>>>
>>> In[17]:=
>>> (Simplify[#1[o]] & ) /@ {Numerator, Denominator}
>>>
>>> Out[17]=
>>> {0, 0}
>>>
>>> That is Mathematica simplifies succesfully both the numerator
>>> and denominator to zero. So, you wonder what goes wrong?
>>>
>>> Try now to simplify the whole expression!
>>>
>>> In[19]:=
>>> Simplify[o]
>>>
>>> Out[19]=
>>> 1
>>>
>>> A very weird result to my opinion!
>>> Simplification of 0/0 to 1?
>>> I think no simplification or some
>>> warning messages would be much better
>>> than 1!
>>>
>>> Note also that
>>>
>>> In[20]:=
>>> RootReduce[o]
>>>
>>> Out[20]=
>>> 1
>>>
>>> Dimitris
>>>
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Murray Eisenberg                     murray at math.umass.edu
>> Mathematics & Statistics Dept.
>> Lederle Graduate Research Tower      phone 413 549-1020 (H)
>> University of Massachusetts                413 545-2859 (W)
>> 710 North Pleasant Street            fax   413 545-1801
>> Amherst, MA 01003-9305
>>
>



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