[Om3] OpenMath Symbols for Symbolic Computation

[Peter Horn]

Good morning everybody!

This possibly shows best what we are actually talking about:

> I think so - I am NOT objecting to there being a (family of) CD that  
> does
> for matrices what polyd/r/... do for polynomials, merely pointing  
> out that
> you don't NEED them to do simple things, any more than you need
> polyd/r/... to make
> <OMA>
> <OMS name="plus" cd="arth12/>
> <OMV name="x"/>
> <OMI>1</OMI>
> </OMA>.

Point taken, but in our case we don't really like to distinguish  
between what you call "simple things" and the rest -- that would just  
make things more complicated for us ;)

Your x+1 may very well be a polynomial in x, y, and z over QQ. This  
information is lost, but essential!

Just an example: If you say x^2-2, it may be irreducible if you take  
QQ as ground-ring but reducible if you choose RR. So this is  
incredibly important, and the very same is true about matices, if you  
think of inversion, eigenvalues and the like.

Best regards, Peter
--
Peter   Horn,   University  of  Kassel          *
Computational    Mathematics     Group      *       *
Heinrich Plett Str. 40,  34132  Kassel    *  [S] [C] [I] [E] [n] [c] [e]
Phone: + 4 9 - 5 6 1 - 8 0 4 - 4 1 9 2   *   http://www.symcomp.org
Fax:   + 4 9 - 5 6 1 - 8 0 4 - 4 6 4 6    *
E-Mail: hornp at mathematik.uni-kassel.de      *       *
            http://kassel.symcomp.org/          *