[Maxima] Simplifying gamma distributions

[Raymond Toy]

On 4/3/12 3:12 PM, Oliver Kullmann wrote:
> What I don't understand:
> 
> Why are there two functions, factorial and gamma?

Presumably for the same reason you will find x! and gamma(x) often used
in the same book.

> Is there a different pragmatics behind it?
> If not, shouldn't the simplifications yield the same?
> 
> And if one is going for "maximal strength" simplification,
> shouldn't one always apply makefact, since apparently
> Maxima understands factorial better than gamma?

Or maybe someone can make minfactorial also work with gamma instead of
just factorials.  (That would be nicer, sort of, than also having a
mingamma function.)

Ray