Re: help with polynomial solutions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg81780] Re: help with polynomial solutions
- From: Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gulliet at gmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 02:36:08 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
- References: <fdt3dv$rqj$1@smc.vnet.net>
Jules P. Aronson wrote:
> I could not get mathematica to solve the following class of problems.
>
> If f(x) and g(x) and two polynomials then a solution to force f(x) to be
> equal to g(x) is the equate the coefficients of f(x) to be the same as
> those of g(x). For example,
>
> a x^2 + b x + c == x^2, has a solution, a=1, b=0, c=0.
>
> If I do the following in mathematica:
>
> Solve[a x^2 + b x + c == x^2, {a,b,c}] or using Reduce, I do not get the
> desired solution.
>
> Can someone tell how to force mathematica to solve such problems.
You must tell Mathematica that the identity a x^2 + b x + c == x^2 holds
for all x. Therefor, use *Reduce* and *ForAll* as in
In[1]:= Reduce[ForAll[x, a x^2 + b x + c == x^2], {a, b, c}]
Out[1]= a == 1 && b == 0 && c == 0
Regards,
--
Jean-Marc