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Community Tip - Did you get an answer that solved your problem? Please mark it as an Accepted Solution so others with the same problem can find the answer easily. X

Symbolic Fail

MoeSzyslak
4-Participant

Symbolic Fail

Hi, All --

The symbolic engine continues to disappoint...any ideas as to why MC15 is unable to solve the attached expression?

Thanks.

Matt

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
LucMeekes
23-Emerald III
(To:MoeSzyslak)

Mathcad 11 & Maple:

Luc

I've attached the (Mathcad 11) file with the solution copied, so you can use it in Mathcad 15, if you like.

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5

I agree that Mathcads symbolics is disappointingly weak.

It wasn't top notch at the times of MC11 and Maple, but it got awfully worse with muPad.

Using "assume,ALL>0" is dangerous in combination with solve and often makes the expression fail. I don't know why - maybe because muPad tries to ensure that the solved for variable is also greater than zero and fails doing so. So its better to state one by one that x>0, y>0, etc. Its not necessary to state that x=real if you already have x>0.

Wile the ability to handle equations and expressions of integer arithmetic, like diophantic equations and similar, are near to nonexistent, it nevertheless sometimes helps to state that n=integer.

Using what I explained above I was able to get a (somewhat strange and not fully simplified) solution for your equation,

but nevertheless I encountered a strange effect which leaves me clueless.

In an attempt to strip down the equation to its bare-bones I arrived at

which obviously failed.

After adding alpha Mathcad found a solution

Its crazy - I have no explanation for this! You would think that alpha=1 is as good as any alpha >0  - Mathcad/muPad obviously thinks differently about that?????

Regards

Werner

MoeSzyslak
4-Participant
(To:Werner_E)

Werner -- thanks for having a look. Yes, I really miss the days of the Maple symbolic engine. I think it was much better than what we currently have (I note that Prime 3.0 also choked on this simple equation).

Prime is using the very same symbolic engine as Mathcad, so I wouldn't have expected any different behavior.

And yes - Maple sure was vastly superior compared to muPad (and in fact still is).

LucMeekes
23-Emerald III
(To:MoeSzyslak)

Mathcad 11 & Maple:

Luc

I've attached the (Mathcad 11) file with the solution copied, so you can use it in Mathcad 15, if you like.

MoeSzyslak
4-Participant
(To:LucMeekes)

Luc -- thanks very much. Sure wish I still had access to a copy of MC11 -- I would still be using it. Mind telling me what OS you have it installed on?

Matt

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