Oh! I think I see the source my confusion now; When (-2)^(1/3)//N is executed I realize that Mathematica returns the principle root. However, when this expression is given in Solve I thought that Solve was looking out for all the branches internally. So it would start with one of the roots (presumably the principle root) and check if the condition was satisfied, if not, then it would rotate the point by 2Pi/3 in the complex domain to see if the other root satisfied the condition, and again if that didn't satisfy it, Solve would rotate it one more time. Obviously the roots with non zero components along the imaginary axis can never satisfy the condition, but one root lies purely on the real axis which gives the result a=-5/8. When Solve gave me the empty list, I was confused like hell because I knew that the real root satisfied the condition. And also that's why I called the rewrite of the expression with CubeRoot offered by Hans "unnecessary" because I thought Solve was internally trying that branch too, but in reality it wasn't. It is only looking at the principle root unless otherwise stated either by CubeRoot or Surd functions. Now this clears out why CubeRoot solution offered by Hans works.

I hope my understanding of the working of Solve is correct now.

I appreciate your help, Thanks all!

Dear John,

I failed to understand your test. The way I defined f in the first post never meant to be equal to 0 for a=-5/8. There is no surprise that you got False.

Secondly, let's look at the correctly defined case

FullSimplify@f/.a->-5/8
(* 2(-1)^(1/3) *)

Even if you had used the original condition, you would still get False when you test it against -2 since Mathematica returns the principle root of 2(-1)^(1/3) which is 1.+1.73205I

2(-1)^(1/3)//N
(* 1.+1.73205*I *)

For a second, let's forget about how Mathematica evaluates an expression.

The expression 2(-1)^(1/3) has 3 roots. The roots are

2Exp[I Pi/3], 2Exp[I 5Pi/3], 2Exp[I Pi] 

2Exp[I Pi/3] is the principle root which Mathematica returns and its value is 1.+1.73205I. The real root is 2Exp[I Pi] which is returned by CubeRoot function and its value is -2 and finally the other root 2Exp[I 5Pi/2] whose value is 1.-1.73205I

The way I looked at Solve function initially was that I thought it was trying all these roots to find a, but it wasn't, as cleared out by Daniel.

If I am asked to check whether f==-2 for a=-5/8, I would consider all the roots. Not just the principle root which obviously doesn't satisfy the condition, but the root 2Exp[I Pi] does!

Back to Mathematica, you may consider the equations corresponding to each root as separate equations. Mathematica may choose to do that for any reason-- consistency is a very valid reason. Then you may say a=-5/8 does not satisfy the condition for my equation corresponding to the "principle root", which you are correct. But for another root, it satisfies.

I think you should now see the source of my initial objection (or say, confusion) which is related to the "machinery" of Solve. I'll get my head wrapped around the way Mathematica operates in the future.

Hi Hans,

This is a nice work around. But, this makes me believe that Solve has a deeper problem than I thought.

After simplifying to

(-2)^(1/3)/(-1-2 a)^(1/3)

Solve still cannot solve it unless you explicitly tell Solve that those 1/3 powers are cube roots! This means that Solve cannot properly recognize branching points if powers are given as rational fractions. I think the reason it worked with CubeRoot is because branching points are hardcoded in the function. But for any arbitrary rational fraction, Solve may fail again, which makes me worry.

I don't know how Wolfram programmed Solve, but I would expect Solve to try out the work around you suggested internally and give me the result.

The problem I posted here is actually a part of another problem I encountered with DSolve. DSolve correctly found the 3 roots of the general solution of a differential equation I gave it to solve, but when I asked Mathematica to solve the differential equation with a boundary condition, 2 out 3 solutions failed. I then manually applied the B.C. to the general solution Mathematica found with Solve, but I failed (as it is the topic of this thread). However, when I found a solution by hand, I realized that Solve has some issues and perhaps DSolve suffers from this as well. I reserve the problem I had with DSolve to another thread, so that we can focus on the problem Solve has.

In my opinion, this is a bug. To me, (-2)^(1/3)/(-1-2 a)^(1/3)==-2 is a very simplified expression and Solve cannot solve it without an unnecessary replacement of 1/3 powers with CubeRoot.

This is not a bug. 5/8 is simply not a solution to the given equation (others have pointed that out). Solve is working exactly as designed in this example.

To clarify, radicals give principal branches of roots. Parametrized radicals will of course only be able to do that when numeric values are substituted for the parameters.

As for Solve, when encountering a parametrized radical it creates a new variable and a new equation. For example, the expression (-1-2 a)^(1/3) would become something along the lines radicalVariable[(-1-2 a)^(1/3)] with the defining equation radicalVariable[(-1-2 a)^(1/3)]^3==(-1-2 a). The actual internals can be see below.

f = (I Sqrt[3] 2^(1/3) + 2^(1/3))/(2 (-2 a - 1)^(1/3));
In[3]:= Internal`MakePolynomial[f]

(* Out[3]= {{(Solve`ParmVar[2^(1/3)] + 
     Solve`ParmVar[I] Solve`ParmVar[2^(1/3)] Solve`ParmVar[Sqrt[
       3]]) Solve`RecipVar[1/
    Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(1/3)]], 
  1 + Solve`ParmVar[I]^2 == 0, -2 + Solve`ParmVar[2^(1/3)]^3 == 
   0, -3 + Solve`ParmVar[Sqrt[3]]^2 == 0, 
  1 + Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(1/3)]^3 + 
    2 Solve`SolvVar[a] == 
   0, -1 + Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(
      1/3)] Solve`RecipVar[1/
      Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(1/3)]] == 
   0}, {Solve`RecipVar[1/
   Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(1/3)]], 
  Solve`RadVar[(-1 - 2 Solve`SolvVar[a])^(1/3)], Solve`SolvVar[a], 
  Solve`ParmVar[I], Solve`ParmVar[Sqrt[3]], Solve`ParmVar[2^(1/3)]}} *)

This is not a bug.

Your rewrite using CubeRoot changes the meaning of the expression, because

(-2)^(1/3) == CubeRoot[-2]
(* False *)

or if you like

{(-2)^(1/3), CubeRoot[-2]} // N
{0.629961 + 1.09112 I, -1.25992}

In general, x^(1/3) refers to the principal branch of the complex cube root. Use CubeRoot or Surd for real roots.

Someone with better mathematics knowledge than I have will need to answer. To show my ignorance level I would argue that x==2 means that x==2 only. Analogous to your cubing of both sides x^2==4 is a different equation that results in x==2 and x==-2.

Are you sure that a=-5/8 is a solution?

f = (I Sqrt[3] 2^(1/3) + 2^(1/3))/(2 (-2 a - 1)^(1/3));
f /. a -> -5/8 // FullSimplify
(* 1 + I Sqrt[3] *)

Note that

Solve[f == 2, a]
(* {{a -> -(3/8)}} *)