Python fails on math

[Tim Wintle]

On Tue, 2011-02-22 at 05:20 -0800, christian schulze wrote:
> [code]
> >>> from math import e as e
> >>> from math import sqrt as sqrt
> >>> 2*e*sqrt(3) - 2*e == 2*e*(sqrt(3) - 1)
> False
> [/code]

> I was wondering what exactly is failing here. The math module? Python,
> or the IEEE specifications?

I'm not sure anything is failing as such - the "A==B" operator checks if
values computed by the expressions A and B are equivalent - it doesn't
check if the expressions are equivalent (which you'd obviously need
algebra software to attempt).

(from the rest of your email I'm assuming you know what's actually
happening)

Tim Wintle