# Incorrect reduction

Posted 1 year ago
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 Is there an incorrect theorem embedded in wolfram alpha, or is this a bug? See image.Any time I enter " (i (2 x^* - 1))/(2 (x^* - 1) x^* ) " it reduces to "i / x^* " I need to show an equivalence, but when this is on the right hand side of the equation, it reduces to this " i/x^* " nonsense. Any ideas? I see why it's doing it (order of operations), but it's wrong.
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Posted 1 year ago
 Here's an example...
Posted 1 year ago
 Incorrect reduction
Posted 1 year ago
 Common factors are cancelled (standard in rational function fields). Think of it as a removable singularity, one that, well, got removed.
Posted 1 year ago
 (2 (5 - I 7) - 1) is not the same as 2 ((5 - I 7) - 1)
Posted 1 year ago
 Daniel, you might want to look at this again. Look at my numerical example I provided. Then go ahead and enter the same calculation using just x instead of the complex conjugate of x. It won’t cancel in either of these, for the same reason it shouldn’t for the former. It’s inconsistent.
Posted 1 year ago
 Ah, yes. Bad precedence. I filed a bug report for this.
Posted 1 year ago
 Thanks, and here's a visual just in case.
Posted 1 year ago
 And Gustavo is right'o! But not exactly as I entered it.
Posted 1 year ago
 Okay, weird...just narrowed it down. In my first image I didn't include the equation as I entered it. It's a bug in how it's reading my input. Take a look at this image now, as it includes what I actually type.
Posted 1 year ago
 The temporary work around is to put additional parenthesis around the 2 x^* in the numerator.
Posted 1 year ago
 I am confused. What is x^* ?
Posted 1 year ago
 X^* means complex conjugate of X.