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When doing symbolic math, sometimes the result has exponents of exponents, for instance
(x^2)^(3/2)
A simpler form for this expression would be x^3, but even using "simplify,max" does not change the form of the result. "combine" and "expand" don't help either.
Is there any way to get Matchcad to simplify this expression?
Solved! Go to Solution.
(x^2)^(3/2) = x^3 is true for x>=0 only, not for x<0.
And if x is non-real, the square root ()^.../2 has two results, not just one like x^3.
Mathcad takes that into account and will only simplify to x^3 if you tell it with the "assume" that x is positive (that implicitly also tells MC that x is real of course).
(x^2)^(3/2) = x^3 is true for x>=0 only, not for x<0.
And if x is non-real, the square root ()^.../2 has two results, not just one like x^3.
Mathcad takes that into account and will only simplify to x^3 if you tell it with the "assume" that x is positive (that implicitly also tells MC that x is real of course).
Ah, that helps. Thanks!