On Jan 23, 2008 9:19 PM, Ted Kosan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [...,..,x == (-1)^(1/3)*3^(1/3)] > > > I ran into this issue while demonstrating the usefulness of the solve > function in front of a class of students. That was quite 'fun' :-) > > Ted > It does seem strange that the answer that looked like it should be real is actually not. If you have sage evaluate the first value in the returned answers you see that despite its appearance it is the pure real number that you desire.
b[0].right().n() you get -1.44224957030741 So make sure that your students see that sage *did* return the desired value. But also remind them to be careful because all other things being equal technology tends to answer your questions in the way that makes the most sense to its programmer, which does not necessarily make the most sense to a student (or anyone else). Jacob Hicks Mathematics Teacher Trinity Collegiate School --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
