Reverse Inverse Symbolic Calculator (RIES)

[mklabgr]

Reverse Inverse Symbolic Calculator (RIES)

Summary

RIES works in the opposite direction of a calculator:

• A normal calculator computes
  $expression→number$
  
• RIES tries to compute
  $number→expression$
  

RIES is useful for:

• discovering possible closed forms of numerical constants,
  
• identifying unexpected relationships,
  
• checking whether a computed decimal might equal a known mathematical expression,
  
• generating conjectures before attempting a proof.
  

It's important to remember that RIES does not prove identities. It only suggests candidate formulas. If it finds an expression that matches many decimal places, you still need a mathematical proof to establish that the equality is exact.


RIES