Re: SameQ to check for simplified radical expressions... doesn't work
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg120988] Re: SameQ to check for simplified radical expressions... doesn't work
- From: Heike Gramberg <heike.gramberg at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:18:09 -0400 (EDT)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <201108191033.GAA23940@smc.vnet.net>
Maybe you can convert your expressions to strings and use StringMatchQ. For example StringMatchQ[ToString[Sqrt[360]], ToString[HoldForm[6 Sqrt[10]]]] returns True, and StringMatchQ[ToString[Sqrt[360]], ToString[HoldForm[Sqrt[360]]]] returns False. Note that Simplify isn't needed since Mathematica automatically reduces square roots to their simplest radical form. Heike. On 19 Aug 2011, at 12:33, Roy Simpson wrote: > Hello, > > I have what appears to be a simple issue, but I cannot for the life of me figure it out. I will have a randomized number, a, and I am going to simplify the square root of this. Then I want to compare this to a radical expression that a student enters, say b. Thus, the idea should be something like > > Simplify[Sqrt[a]] === Sqrt[b] > > For sake of this example, let's suppose the number I want to consider is the square root of 360. I only want the statement to return TRUE if the rhs of this SameQ is exactly 6*Sqrt[10]. > > Unfortunately, > > Simplify[Sqrt[360]] === Sqrt[360] > returns TRUE. > > I tried a few variations with Hold, but they always return false if the student enters the correct answer. For example, if the student entered 6*Sqrt[10], then > > Simplify[Sqrt[360]] === Hold[6*Sqrt[10]] > returns FALSE > > What am I doing wrong? Any help would be appreciated. >
- References:
- SameQ to check for simplified radical expressions... doesn't work
- From: Roy Simpson <roy@mathemaddicts.com>
- SameQ to check for simplified radical expressions... doesn't work