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together, cancel, and a zero test for rational functions #2146

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@Rafael-SOWNet

Most proofs in Modenov's Problems in Geometry (#2131) end in "this rational function of a, b, c is 0". Readers ran more than 200 of them through Simplify. The failures they checked at exact random points were all 0, so the identities are true and the failures are the library's:

The parts exist: the polynomial layer, its multivariate GCD (MathS.Polynomials.Gcd), and Transformation.RationalCanonicalization, which proves identities Simplify does not.

Wanted, for 2.8, as explicit operations:

  • together(expr): one numerator over one denominator;
  • cancel(expr): that, with the GCD divided out;
  • a zero test built on them.

Whether Simplify should call them by default is a cost and canonical-form question, so it belongs with v3. The trigonometric identities that fail (#2135, #2142) would follow from the same zero test, reduced modulo sin² + cos² − 1.

Related: #1251.

Activity

  1. added this to the 2.8 milestone on Oct 27, 2026
  2. Rafael-SOWNet commented on Oct 27, 2026

    @Rafael-SOWNet
    MemberAuthor

    Duplicate of #2137. The operations this asks for already exist: Entity.AsSingleFraction (#1239) writes an expression as one fraction, and Transformation.RationalCanonicalization brings it to lowest terms and decides all of #2137's identities. What is missing is Simplify reaching them, which is #2137. I also proposed together as a name here, which AGENTS.md records was turned down as jargon.

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