Math & Science ⇒ Polynom division

[michael_b]

Hey everybody,

i have to tex a polynom division with the variable lambda. The polynom division looks like that:

\lambda^3-1 : (\lambda -1)

The result has to be \lambda^2+\lambda+1

And it has to show the different step of calculation.

Therefore i have taken the "polynom" package. However, there is a problem if i tex like that:

Code: Select all

[\polylongdiv[style=C,div=:,vars=\lambda]{\lambda^3-1}{\lambda-1}\]

Can anybody help.

Thanks a lot

[gmedina]

Hi,

yes, I can reproduce the problem mentioned. The following example shows that the problem comes from the use of \lambda for the vars keys:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{polynom}

\begin{document}

% it won't work
%\[\polylongdiv[vars=\lambda,style=C,div=:]{\lambda^3-1}{\lambda-1}\]

% works OK
\[\polylongdiv[vars=l,style=C,div=:]{l^3-1}{l-1}\]

\end{document}

You should send a bug report to the package author.

[frabjous]

Hopefully someone else will know how to do this. I couldn't get it to work either, using Greek letters with TeX commands along with vars=...

I did, however, get this to work, compiling with XeLaTeX (using a unicode-compliant editor):

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathspec}
\defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{xltxtra}
\usepackage{polynom}
\setallmainfonts{Linux Libertine O}
\begin{document}
\[\polylongdiv[style=C,div=:,vars=λ]{λ^3-1}{λ-1}\]
\end{document}

(Replace "Linux Libertine O" with the name of some font on your system that has Greek letters in it.)

Might be a temporary workaround.

[michael_b]

Yes it's really weird that it works with "l" or another character until we use a symbol which starts with an "\" e.g. "\lambda"

The unicode for lambda didn't work because i compiled with the programm WinEdit and if i take the lambda unicode to the tex-area the programme wouldn't recognize it, but writes a "?" instead.

gmedina thank you for the idea with the bug report.

But what can i do to solve this problem? or is there another way to get the result I want?

[localghost]

[...] But what can i do to solve this problem? [...]

At the moment nothing. Wait for the answer of the package maintainer. Feel free to post a summary of his message here.


Best regards
Thorsten

[frabjous]

Contacting the package maintainer is definitely the way to go here, but still, if you need something in the short term, it might be worth installing TeXworks so you can use unicode. (You can switch back to WinEdt when the problem is fixed, or for that matter, just export cropped .pdfs of just the polynomial divisions you need and then include them in your document using \includegraphics or whatever.)

[michael_b]

Thank you for your answers.

I have written the bug report to the maintainer. If i get an answer i will post it into this subject.

[michael_b]

Hey everybody!

I have contacted the "former" maintainer and he has given me the solution.

We can fix the problem in the preamble. Between "\makeatletter" and "/makeatother" you have to put this code:

Code: Select all

 
\define@key{pld}{vars}{% 
   \let\pld@variables\@empty 
   \@tfor\pld@temp:=#1\do{% 
     \pld@Extend\pld@variables{\expandafter,\pld@temp}% 
     \edef\pld@temp{% 
       \noexpand\define@key{pld}{\expandafter\string\pld@temp}% 
       {\noexpand\pld@GetValue{\expandafter\string\pld@temp}{####1}}% 
     }% 
     \pld@temp 
   }% 
} 

If you want to see a full test code you can watch it there:

Code: Select all

 
\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{polynom} 
\makeatletter 
\define@key{pld}{vars}{% 
   \let\pld@variables\@empty 
   \@tfor\pld@temp:=#1\do{% 
     \pld@Extend\pld@variables{\expandafter,\pld@temp}% 
     \edef\pld@temp{% 
       \noexpand\define@key{pld}{\expandafter\string\pld@temp}% 
       {\noexpand\pld@GetValue{\expandafter\string\pld@temp}{####1}}% 
     }% 
     \pld@temp 
   }% 
} 
\makeatother 

\begin{document} 

\[\polylongdiv[style=C,div=:,vars=\lambda]{\lambda^3-1}{\lambda-1}\] 

\end{document} 

[localghost]

Thank you for your effort. And did the maintainer say if we can expect a new release of the package or is maintenance discontinued?

[michael_b]

No Problem. The former maintainer has given me no information about that.