Re: 6 months free Claude Max 20x for working on Maxima

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Some AI types seem to be viewing the Wolfram results as ground truth.  If
the Maxima and Mathematica and Sympy ... results are different, that at
least suggests a closer look is warranted.

I am somewhat skeptical about Claude figuring out the difference between
case 1:  the code, as written, is the only concrete definitive
specification of an algorithm and therefore agrees with the spec and is
inherently correct
  and
case 2: same as case 1 except there is an undiscovered bug (not revealed by
any test cases).

and then refactoring the code, adding comments, etc.

Of course humans might not be so great at this either.  Depends on the
human...

Cheers
Richard

On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 10:34=E2=80=AFAM Raymond Toy <[email protected]=
> wrote:

> On 7/21/26 12:00 PM, Gunter K=EF=BF=BDnigsmann via Maxima-discuss wrote:
>
>
> One other non-mathematical thing would be asking it to clean up the build
> dependencies so incremental builds actually yield the result one expects
> and don't forget dependencies or hit circular ones.
>
> A few months ago I asked Claude to check the dependencies between files t=
o
> make them explicit and the dependencies between modules too. Many of thes=
e
> changes have been incorporated. Along the way, some modules got split int=
o
> smaller ones to simplify the dependencies.
>
> My original goal was to get the build order correct so the def-simplifier
> compiler macros were always defined ahead of use. What I learned is that
> there are a lot of circular dependencies. Some of these were fixed but ma=
ny
> were not. I think this would require a huge refactoring of the existing
> code moving all kinds of things around. I stopped at that point because i=
t
> was a lot of work. Claude could probably do it fairly easily, but it woul=
d
> make the file names and modules a lot less meaningful and I didn=E2=80=99=
t know how
> to keep them simple.
>
>
> We could ask it to clean up our mess with global variables as a first ste=
p
> towards multi-threading.
>
> I=E2=80=99ve worked on this over the years doing it by hand. I haven=E2=
=80=99t tried with
> Claude but it=E2=80=99s on my list. If nothing else, it will at least mak=
e it
> easier to find all the uses. However, it=E2=80=99s also hard because lots=
 of places
> use the same (short) name for different things.
>
>
> We could ask it to perform a stability review.
>
> I don't know how good it is in maths. But when it can change stuff so it
> is testable, add tests and then test the results of its work it really
> excels. Or we could ask it what needs to be done so it can port Rubi.
>
> For some other projects, Claude has been quite good at creating tests. Fo=
r
> those projects, it=E2=80=99s easily verifiable that it=E2=80=99s correct.=
 Could be harder
> in maxima, if, say, Claude says here=E2=80=99s a definite integral with
> corresponding result. It could be difficult the verify that that=E2=80=99=
s correct.
> We could compute it numerically, but that=E2=80=99s not a proof of correc=
tness.
> &#8203;
> _______________________________________________
> Maxima-discuss mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/maxima-discuss
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"fon=
t-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small">Some AI types seem to be viewing=
 the Wolfram results as ground truth.=C2=A0 If the Maxima and Mathematica a=
nd Sympy ... results are different, that at least suggests a closer look is=
 warranted.</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sa=
ns-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"f=
ont-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small">I am somewhat skeptical about =
Claude figuring out the difference between</div><div class=3D"gmail_default=
" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small">case 1:=C2=A0 the =
code, as written, is the only concrete definitive specification of an algor=
ithm and therefore agrees with the spec and is inherently correct</div><div=
 class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:sm=
all">=C2=A0 and</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:aria=
l,sans-serif;font-size:small">case 2: same as case 1 except there is an und=
iscovered bug (not revealed by any test cases).</div><div class=3D"gmail_de=
fault" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><di=
v class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:s=
mall">and then refactoring the code, adding comments, etc.</div><div class=
=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small"><=
br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif=
;font-size:small">Of course humans might not be so great at this either.=C2=
=A0 Depends on the human...</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font=
-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_def=
ault" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small">Cheers</div><d=
iv class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:=
small">Richard</div></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_contain=
er"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 10:34=E2=
=80=AFAM Raymond Toy &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">toy.raymo=
[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" styl=
e=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);paddin=
g-left:1ex"><u></u>

 =20

   =20
   =20
   =20
 =20
  <div>
    <div>
      <p style=3D"margin-bottom:19.2px;margin-top:0px">On 7/21/26
        12:00 PM, Gunter K=EF=BF=BDnigsmann via Maxima-discuss wrote:<br>
      </p>
      <blockquote type=3D"cite" style=3D"border-color:rgb(119,119,119) rgb(=
119,119,119) rgb(119,119,119) rgb(114,159,207);border-left-width:2px;border=
-left-style:solid;color:rgb(119,119,119);column-rule-color:rgb(119,119,119)=
;margin:19.2px 0px;outline-color:rgb(119,119,119);padding-left:16px;padding=
-right:16px;quotes:none;text-decoration-color:rgb(119,119,119);text-emphasi=
s-color:rgb(119,119,119)">
        <div dir=3D"auto"><br>
          One other non-mathematical thing would be asking it to clean
          up the build dependencies so incremental builds actually yield
          the result one expects and don&#39;t forget dependencies or hit
          circular ones.=C2=A0<br>
        </div>
      </blockquote>
      A few months ago I asked Claude to check the dependencies between
      files to make them explicit and the dependencies between modules
      too. Many of these changes have been incorporated. Along the way,
      some modules got split into smaller ones to simplify the
      dependencies.
      <p style=3D"margin-bottom:19.2px;margin-top:0px">My original
        goal was to get the build order correct so the <code style=3D"backg=
round-color:rgba(175,184,193,0.2);border-radius:3px;font-family:Consolas,In=
consolata,Courier,monospace;font-size:16px;font-weight:550;margin-left:2.4p=
x;margin-right:2.4px;padding-left:4.8px;padding-right:4.8px">def-simplifier=
</code>
        compiler macros were always defined ahead of use. What I learned
        is that there are a lot of circular dependencies. Some of these
        were fixed but many were not. I think this would require a huge
        refactoring of the existing code moving all kinds of things
        around. I stopped at that point because it was a lot of work.
        Claude could probably do it fairly easily, but it would make the
        file names and modules a lot less meaningful and I didn=E2=80=99t k=
now
        how to keep them simple.</p>
      <blockquote type=3D"cite" style=3D"border-color:rgb(119,119,119) rgb(=
119,119,119) rgb(119,119,119) rgb(114,159,207);border-left-width:2px;border=
-left-style:solid;color:rgb(119,119,119);column-rule-color:rgb(119,119,119)=
;margin:19.2px 0px;outline-color:rgb(119,119,119);padding-left:16px;padding=
-right:16px;quotes:none;text-decoration-color:rgb(119,119,119);text-emphasi=
s-color:rgb(119,119,119)">
        <div dir=3D"auto"><br>
          We could ask it to clean up our mess with global variables as
          a first step towards multi-threading.=C2=A0<br>
        </div>
      </blockquote>
      I=E2=80=99ve worked on this over the years doing it by hand. I haven=
=E2=80=99t
      tried with Claude but it=E2=80=99s on my list. If nothing else, it wi=
ll at
      least make it easier to find all the uses. However, it=E2=80=99s also=
 hard
      because lots of places use the same (short) name for different
      things.
      <blockquote type=3D"cite" style=3D"border-color:rgb(119,119,119) rgb(=
119,119,119) rgb(119,119,119) rgb(114,159,207);border-left-width:2px;border=
-left-style:solid;color:rgb(119,119,119);column-rule-color:rgb(119,119,119)=
;margin:19.2px 0px;outline-color:rgb(119,119,119);padding-left:16px;padding=
-right:16px;quotes:none;text-decoration-color:rgb(119,119,119);text-emphasi=
s-color:rgb(119,119,119)">
        <div dir=3D"auto"><br>
          We could ask it to perform a stability review.<br>
          <br>
          I don&#39;t know how good it is in maths. But when it can change
          stuff so it is testable, add tests and then test the results
          of its work it really excels. Or we could ask it what needs to
          be done so it can port Rubi.</div>
      </blockquote>
      For some other projects, Claude has been quite good at creating
      tests. For those projects, it=E2=80=99s easily verifiable that it=E2=
=80=99s
      correct. Could be harder in maxima, if, say, Claude says here=E2=80=
=99s a
      definite integral with corresponding result. It could be difficult
      the verify that that=E2=80=99s correct. We could compute it numerical=
ly,
      but that=E2=80=99s not a proof of correctness.
    </div>
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  </div>

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