Multivariable Algebra with Parameters
摘要
In this chapter we construct the module MultiAlgParams.py, which generalizes the module MultiAlg.py by allowing monomial coefficients to include parameters. Parameters, like scalars, are treated by the module as constants and placed in the first position of a monomial list. But unlike scalars, they have no given value during a particular program run. They are useful in several ways. First, they allow the user to test variations of a function to illuminate the nature of a particular process or model. Second, they are convenient in situations that require undetermined coefficients, for example the expansion of a rational function into a sum of partial fractions or the generation of integer summation formulas. The last two notions are explore in sections at the end of the chapter.