Rusty quotients

Implementing quotients

In the previous post, we mentioned how we plan to use the Product operator and handle division via negative exponents.

On further consideration, manipulation of algebraic fractions is a non-insignificant part of learning algebra so we have decided to implement the Quotient operator in our expression tree.

Rust implementation update

We have been implementing a preliminary version of the Mathlify library rewrite in rust, and it has been a really enjoyable journey.

I love how most of my coding errors are caught during compilation with mostly helpful hints on how to fix them.

I still struggle every now and then about borrowing and ownership and probably use clone too much (though I think that is eminently necessary as I want to avoid mutations when creating new objects from old).

However, the compiler and built-in testing solution makes me very confident when writing and refactoring code.

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot has also been really useful in making the process more effective. In particular, the suggestions for the $\text{L}\text{A}\text{T}\text{E}\text{X}$ display test output has been mostly high quality, though it often fluffed on the numbers when performing manipulations, producing a suggestion that matches the shape of the final expression but with wrong values.

Current features

As of today, I have implemented most of the common expression manipulation techniques:

• substituting variables for numbers or other expressions
• expansion and factorization (of common factors)
• algebraic fractions: simplification via cancellation of terms and combining fractions under addition/subtraction
• combining like terms in products and sums
• common heuristics for "simplification" of expressions

JavaScript time

With the good progress, I am considering to start transferring the ideas into a JavaScript implementation before starting work on arithmetic methods, polynomials and handling equations.