Re: question about simplify function
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg96949] Re: question about simplify function
- From: Pillsy <pillsbury at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:40:04 -0500 (EST)
- References: <go8i2m$l5e$1@smc.vnet.net>
On Feb 27, 6:16 am, zxcv_... at hotmail.com wrote: > This seems like a basic question, but I can't see the answer: Why > doesn't either the Simplify or FullSimplify function transform the > expression x/(xy) into 1/y? When I substitute a specific value in for > x, the simplification occurs as expected, e.g., 4/(4y) transforms to 1/ > y. Puzzling. Because if you type "xy" without a space between the two letters, Mathematica interprets it as single variable named "xy", which it obviously can't simply. x/(x y) or x/(x*y) will do what you want. Personally, I don't think the convenience of using a space for multiplication has turned out to be worth the trouble, but clearly WRI disagrees with me. Cheers, Pillsy