MaplePrimes - answers and comments on Question, fsolve finds solution, solve doesn't -- eq. simply too nasty?

Any thoughts on this? Just

fgnievinski — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:26:44 Z

Any thoughts on this? Just wondering if I'm missing something that might be obvious to you... Thanks! -F.

Simply too nasty

alsholm — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:02:41 Z

I don't think you are missing anything.

I tried

F1:=combine(Fder):

solve(F1=0, h);
h
i.e. output is h (!). However, the expression F1 is huge. But certainly this answer is strange.
If you plot F1 you run into numerical problems, which is not surprising.

plot(F1,h=0..Pi,-1.5..1.5);

Preben Alsholm

solve

Robert Israel — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:57:56 Z

Just that solve usually doesn't find solutions for transcendental equations. The fact that there happens to be a simple solution doesn't help if there's no reasonable way to find that solution.