Re: solved in a non algebraic way?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg42193] Re: solved in a non algebraic way?
- From: Bill Rowe <listuser at earthlink.net>
- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 04:05:31 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
On 6/21/03 at 8:57 PM, nchin at students.uiuc.edu (Nick Chin) wrote: > ive been trying to solve an equation of the form > > tan(kx) + m tan(x) = 0 , solving for x > but mathematica says " The equations appear to involve the variables to > be solved for in an essentially non-algebraic way. " > So is there another way to use mathematica to solve, or is it powerless > for this problem? Yes and no. It depends on what you want. If you want a general solution with k and m specified as variables, then I don't know how to do it. But if you give k and m specific values, Mathematica gives you a warning about using inverse functions and provides a solution. Both Solve[Tan[2 x] + 3 Tan[x] == 0, x] and NSolve[Tan[2 x] + 3 Tan[x] == 0, x] work with the warning noted above. But if k and m are arbitrary reals you will most likely need to use FindRoot to locate a specific root