Normal form : normal

normal takes as argument an expression. The expression is considered as a rational fraction with respect to generalized identifiers (either true identifiers or transcendental functions replaced by a temporary identifiers) with coefficients in $\mathbb {Q}$ or $\mathbb {Q}$[i] or in an algebraic extension (e.g. $\mathbb {Q}$[$\sqrt{{2}}$]). normal returns the expanded irreducible representation of this rational fraction. See also ratnormal for pure rational fractions or simplify if the transcendental functions are not algebraically independant.
Input :

normal((x-1)*(x+1))

Output :

x^2-1

Remarks

• Unlike simplify, normal does not try to find algebraic relations between transcendental functions like cos(x)² + sin(x)² = 1.
• It is sometimes necessary to run the normal command twice to get a fully irreducible representation of an expression containing algebraic extensions.