Learning Guide Learning Guide

56 • Chapter 3: Finding Solutionsit is an integer. In addition, with the fsolve command you can specifythe range in which to look for a solution. Thereby you may gain morecontrol over the solution.> fsolve({sin(x)=0}, {x}, 3..4);{x = 3.14159265358979323846264338328}These types of problems are common to all symbolic computationsystems, and are symptoms of the natural limitations of an algorithmicapproach to equation solving.When using solve, remember to check your results. The next examplehighlights an issue that can arise as a result of Maple’s treatment ofremovable singularities.> expr := (x-1)^2/(x^2-1);expr :=(x − 1)2x 2 − 1Maple finds a solution> soln := solve({expr=0},{x});soln := {x = 1}but when you evaluate the expression at 1, you get 0/0.> eval(expr, soln);Error, numeric exception: division by zeroThe limit shows that x = 1 is nearly a solution.> Limit(expr, x=1);(x − 1) 2limx→1 x 2 − 1> value (%);0