Solve and RootOf
As you learned in the previous section, sometimes
solve
doesn't find a solution. For example, there is no closed-form Maple solution for the equation below. Evaluate the input, and Maple will return just
"RootOf( same equation )"
---its way of saying that it couldn't find an explicit solution.
> solve( exp(x) * sin(x) + x^2 * ln(x) = 1, x);
>
If you don't understand the above notation (what is the _ Z ? what does RootOf mean?), now is an excellent time to ask someone for a crystal-clear explanation.