[Axiom-developer] [MathAction]

[anonymous]

++added:
Axiom is very strict with types (meaning: where the operation takes place). The 
division of 1+2 by 3 takes place in Fraction Integer (field of rational 
numbers) and that is where the answer should be, even if it is 1. Most people 
would automatically "retract" this to the integer 1. But in general, there is 
no natural way to do so (why not retract 1 to a natural number, for example?).  
So Axiom provides the user a way to "coerce" an answer to another type. You can 
coerce 1 to any of many, many types, for example, as a polynomial, or even as a 
matrix (or the unit element of any ring).

\begin{axiom}
((1+2)/3)::Polynomial Integer
((1+2)/3)::SquareMatrix(1,Integer)
((1+2)/3)::SquareMatrix(3,Integer)
((1+2)/3)::SquareMatrix(3, Polynomial Complex Integer)
\end{axiom}

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