[GiNaC-list] Bug report

[Mark Rahner]

Hi Vladimir,

Yang's expectation, that applying numer() and denom() to the same
expression would produce expressions with consistent signs, is reasonable.
Even if the potential inconsistency of results is well documented, it will
remain unexpected behavior by many users, potentially leading to errors.
The fact that consistent signs will sometimes be produced may make it
difficult to detect or debug those errors.  The potential inconsistency of
sign results also suggests that the concepts of numerator and denominator
aren't well defined, which is unsettling even if there is a good underlying
reason.  The explanation given, because a/b = (-a)/(-b), seems insufficient
to justify an interface that can lead to errors.  Would enforcement of
consistent signs result in a performance penalty?

Respectfully,
-Mark

On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 6:31 PM Vladimir V. Kisil <kisilv at maths.leeds.ac.uk>
wrote:

>         Hi,
>
> >>>>> On Thu, 23 Aug 2018 13:22:06 +0800 (GMT+08:00), 杨强  <
> acrobat at mail.ustc.edu.cn> said:
>
>     > Dear all, I use GiNaC to perform analytic calculation, but when I
>     > try to use .numer() and .denom() methods, I get a wrong result.
>
>
>     > 1. expr.numer()/expr.denom() is not always equal to the original
>     > expression!!!  2. Using .numer_denom() method could always get the
>     > correct answer.
>
>     It is not actually a bug. Since a/b = (-a)/(-b), numer() and denom()
>   are only defined up to a sign. Thus their separate evaluation may lead
>   to expr.numer()/expr.denom() with the opposite sign to expr.
>
>   I am proposing a patch to tutorial reminding that,
>
>   Best wishes,
>   Vladimir
> --
> Vladimir V. Kisil                 http://www.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~kisilv/
>   Book:     Geometry of Mobius Transformations     http://goo.gl/EaG2Vu
>   Software: Geometry of cycles          http://moebinv.sourceforge.net/
>
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