Maxima Manual
11.1 Introduction to Polynomials
Polynomials are stored in maxima either in General Form or as
Cannonical Rational Expressions (CRE) form. The latter is a standard
form, and is used internally by operations such as factor, ratsimp, and
so on.
Canonical Rational Expressions constitute a kind of representation
which is especially suitable for expanded polynomials and rational
functions (as well as for partially factored polynomials and rational
functions when RATFAC[FALSE] is set to TRUE). In this CRE form an
ordering of variables (from most to least main) is assumed for each
expression. Polynomials are represented recursively by a list
consisting of the main variable followed by a series of pairs of
expressions, one for each term of the polynomial. The first member of
each pair is the exponent of the main variable in that term and the
second member is the coefficient of that term which could be a number or
a polynomial in another variable again represented in this form. Thus
the principal part of the CRE form of 3*X^2-1 is (X 2 3 0 -1) and that
of 2*X*Y+X-3 is (Y 1 (X 1 2) 0 (X 1 1 0 -3)) assuming Y is the main
variable, and is (X 1 (Y 1 2 0 1) 0 -3) assuming X is the main
variable. "Main"-ness is usually determined by reverse alphabetical
order. The "variables" of a CRE expression needn't be atomic. In fact
any subexpression whose main operator is not + - * / or ^ with integer
power will be considered a "variable" of the expression (in CRE form) in
which it occurs. For example the CRE variables of the expression
X+SIN(X+1)+2*SQRT(X)+1 are X, SQRT(X), and SIN(X+1). If the user does
not specify an ordering of variables by using the RATVARS function
MACSYMA will choose an alphabetic one. In general, CRE's represent
rational expressions, that is, ratios of polynomials, where the
numerator and denominator have no common factors, and the denominator is
positive. The internal form is essentially a pair of polynomials (the
numerator and denominator) preceded by the variable ordering list. If
an expression to be displayed is in CRE form or if it contains any
subexpressions in CRE form, the symbol /R/ will follow the line label.
See the RAT function for converting an expression to CRE form. An
extended CRE form is used for the representation of Taylor series. The
notion of a rational expression is extended so that the exponents of the
variables can be positive or negative rational numbers rather than just
positive integers and the coefficients can themselves be rational
expressions as described above rather than just polynomials. These are
represented internally by a recursive polynomial form which is similar
to and is a generalization of CRE form, but carries additional
information such as the degree of truncation. As with CRE form, the
symbol /T/ follows the line label of such expressions.
