Re: Maple bugs: int + Heaviside

From: Joe Riel (joer_at_k-online.com)
Date: 12/10/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 16:21:36 GMT

nospam nospam <nospam_please@nospam.com> writes:

> Joe Riel wrote:
>
>> I meant in the context of Heaviside(z), not in general. Heaviside
>> assumes that its argument is real; it doesn't make sense otherwise.
>>
>
>> Which is reasonable. assume=complex, in this context, tells Maple
>> that z should be considered a complex variable. But Heaviside
>> inherently restricts the domain to the reals, so the answer is 0. A
>> real number is also complex. Note, for example, that
>>
>
> What does "tells Maple" mean then if a maple function
> (such as Heaviside) does not use this assumption?

You are missing the point. If the domain of a function is, by
definition, restricted to real values, then passing it a variable
which is not so restricted---whose domain is a superset of the
reals---will not have an effect, the additional generality cannot
matter.

It is not that Maple doesn't use the assumption, rather the
assumption is pointless.

Joe

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Maple bugs: int + Heaviside
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