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## [Axiom-developer] [#8 (Savannah bug #9297) output misses some parenthesi

 From: Bill Page Subject: [Axiom-developer] [#8 (Savannah bug #9297) output misses some parenthesis] interpreting sums, quick fix Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 14:01:53 -0600

I think most people would agree only with the first interpretation
$(\sum_{i=1}^n f(i) ) + 1$

Since $\sum_{i=1}^n$ is an unary operator, e.g. like '-' in $-f(i)+1$,
it has higher precedence than any binary operator.

I have explained why I am (usually) very strongly opposed to
"quick fixes" - because then have a habbit of collecting and
never being really fixed. As soon as you do something expedient
it removes the pressure to find the proper solution and your
efforts are diverted by other "more important" things. If this
happens many times over, then all of these "quick fixes" become
frozen-in because to change any one of them means a major
re-design. My point of view is that better not to fix something
until you are quite sure that you have the most general solution.
But of course it is important to make such "errata" publically
available. Once an error like this is recognized, it can be
handled in the short term simply by giving a brief warning of
the problem.

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