Re: Bug hopping

Newsgroups	comp.soft-sys.math.maple
Date	2023-07-07 22:12 -0700
References	<7b2a001f-581a-437f-a5c1-acf90190ecabn@googlegroups.com>
Message-ID	<8f78e425-9a52-49c4-a7ba-57f8b12f3e0bn@googlegroups.com> (permalink)
Subject	Re: Bug hopping
From	jfh <harperjf2@gmail.com>

Show all headers | View raw

On Tuesday, July 4, 2023 at 6:35:59 PM UTC+12, peter....@gmail.com wrote:
> Maple has developed a sophisticated strategy to ensure that the experience of its users is one of hopping from bug to bug. 
> 
> It is based on two pillars: To change basic definitions (which are in fact fixed since Euclid) from time to time, and, secondly, to rely on the fact that their long-time users can't always adapt that quickly. 
> 
> A nice example with the current Maple version (2023) is: 
> 
> restart; with(numtheory): 
> A027375 := n -> local d; add(mobius(d)*2^(n/d), d = divisors(n)): 
> seq(A027375(n), n = 1..9); 
> 
> > 2, 2, 6, 12, 30, 54, 126, 240, 504 
> 
> restart; with(NumberTheory): 
> A027375 := n -> local d; add(Moebius(d)*2^(n/d), d = divisors(n)): 
> seq(A027375(n), n = 1..9); 
> 
> > 2, -2, -2, 0, -2, 2, -2, 0, 0 
> 
> If you have nothing better to do, you can waste your time trying to find the bug.

At least one of Euclid's definitions did not stay fixed. Our circle is what he called the circumference of a circle, and his circle is what we would call a closed disc (the set of points inside and on the circumference). Euclid's definition caused trouble.  In my copy of his Elements, Book 1 Proposition 1 has two circles meeting in two points, not in a ()-shaped region. Among later Greeks, Apollonius usually followed Euclid's definition, but sometimes he too said "circle" when he should have said "circumference of a circle". Archimedes seems never to have made the same mistake.

Back to comp.soft-sys.math.maple | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Find similar

Thread

Bug hopping "peter....@gmail.com" <peter.luschny@gmail.com> - 2023-07-03 23:35 -0700
  Re: Bug hopping acer <maple@rogers.com> - 2023-07-05 00:35 -0700
    Re: Bug hopping "peter....@gmail.com" <peter.luschny@gmail.com> - 2023-07-05 01:44 -0700
  Re: Bug hopping jfh <harperjf2@gmail.com> - 2023-07-07 22:12 -0700

csiph-web