what's going on here?

American Citizen <[email protected]> Tue, 3 Feb 2026 15:28:39 -0800
Newsgroups gmane.comp.mathematics.pari.user
Message-ID <[email protected]>
This is a question on the ellrank() command.

I have e = [0, -3860/957, 0, 965/957, 0]

? E=ellinit(e);
? ellrank(E)
%7 = [1, 1, 2, []]

Huh??? what?

? [x,y]=[1/4,-1/8]
%8 = [1/4, -1/8]
? ellordinate(E,1/4)
%9 = [1/8, -1/8]

this is a rather simple elliptic curve of rank=1,

mwrank confirms the Mordell-Weil basis of [1/4,-1/8]

I am using

>            GP/PARI CALCULATOR Version 2.18.1 (development git-5d3c5ac62a)
>             amd64 running linux (x86-64/GMP-6.3.0 kernel) 64-bit version
>                compiled: Aug 23 2025, gcc version 13.3.0 (SUSE Linux)
>                       threading engine: pthread, nbthreads = 6
>                    (readline v7.0 enabled, extended help enabled)
if I use ellrank(E,1) then I get the MW basis.

I am just curious as to why this is missed, with no search effort 
specified. Should the ellrank command be rewritten with search effort 
set to 1 automatically?

Randall