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her than in engineering or physics, but I've rarely been called on to "evaluate an integral" as
such; usually I was asked to do things like establish upper or lower limits for integrals (using the
Cauchy-Swartz inequality, etc), introduce variable transformations, examine the asymptotic
behaviour of the integrand, etc. Now I'm studying systems of nonlinear differential equations for
my masters degree, where the whole point of the course is that computers simply cannot tell you
what you want to know about a system.

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[]trickyben2 1 point 2 years ago

This was a poor example then, since Alpha doesn't give me as detailed an answer as you're
getting from Mathematica.
Alpha actually gave me more information on this particular problem (though mathematica is
generally superior, since it doesn't time out.) In the bottom left of the answer box it says "F(x|m)
is the elliptic integral of the first kind" and provides links to documentation, properties, and the
definition of the function. If I wanted to, I could learn all about that function by following the
links.

Addressing your comments about not "evaluating an integral". A CAS can do a hell of a lot more
than evaluate integrals. Although it certainly can't do everything a well-studied professional
mathematician can (and sometimes you have to hold its hand a little, by switching functions out
that it doesn't like for identical functions in a form it likes), most of what you mentioned can be
done in mathematica. Variable transformations are simple with the replacement operator,
examining asymptotic behavior can be done with the limit function. You can also use reduce to
simplify systems of equations and inequalities into a "solved" form (this is the one I've had to do
the most hand-holding on- "reduce" is still an imperfect function.) I've never had to use the
cauchy-swartz inequality myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't a way to use it in
mathematica (at least for special cases.)
Now I'm studying systems of nonlinear differential equations for my masters degree, where the
whole point of the course is that computers simply cannot tell you what you want to know about
a system.
That's great, and I can certainly believe that even advanced CAS software can't help out much
with some classes differential equations (otherwise they wouldn't be an area of intensive study).
However, the point of of CAS is to incorporates existing mathematical knowledge- presumably
those systems you're studying don't have a well defined procedure for generating solutions at this
time (if they do, why would you be studying them?). When such a procedure is completed (even
if just for a special case), some coder down at wolfram research can toss them into Mathematica,
and suddenly those unbelievably difficult systems of nonlinear differential equations can be
solved with a press of a button. So then the next guy who has to solve such a system doesn't have
to get a Master's degree to find an analytic solution.

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[]dbag22 6 points 2 years ago

Numerical evaluation of highly oscillatory integrals can take a lot of time to get a convergent
solution. Being able to solve these integrals analytically with asymptotic techniques will speed
up computations and provide insight into the physics.

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[]trickyben2 2 points 2 years ago

He didn't say anything about doing the integrals numerically- there are a number of computer
algebra systems that can find integrals analytically. Mathematica, for example, is a reasonably
popular choice for analytic methods.

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[]linkfoo 1 point 2 years ago

Because they're fun? They were my favorite part of calculus.

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[]FrankAbagnaleSr[S] 1 point 2 years ago

I am doing it for the learning, not for the application. I am still a novice when it comes to math
(still in high school!). Thanks for the comment though; I'll try not to get too carried away.

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[]abomb999 1 point 2 years ago

1) You need implement integration methods in a computer so you have to understand how they
work.
2) ? I don't know, it helps give you a sense for "mathematical" tactics? This second part may be
more hopeful because I'm not yet an advanced mathematician, maybe all that time integrating in
school is a waste of time and harmful to your later education.

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