Symbolic Manipulation 227
• Transforms irrational numbers to standard forms as much as possible without
approximating them. For example, transforms to and
ln(1000) transforms
to
3ln(10).
• Converts floating-point numbers to rational numbers. For example, 0.25 transforms
to 1/4.
The functions
solve, cSolve, zeros, cZeros, factor, ‰, fMin, and fMax use only exact
symbolic algorithms. These functions do not compute approximate solutions in the
EXACT setting.
• Some equations, such as
2
Lx
= x, have solutions that cannot all be finitely
represented in terms of the functions and operators on the handheld.
• With this kind of equation, EXACT will not compute approximate solutions. For
example,
2
Lx
=x has an approximate solution x ≈ 0.641186, but it is not displayed in
the EXACT setting.
Advantages Disadvantages
Results are exact. As you use more complicated rational
numbers and irrational constants, calculations
can:
• Use more memory, which may exhaust the
memory before a solution is completed.
• Take more computing time.
• Produce bulky results that are harder to
comprehend than a floating-point number.
12 23