## unsupported operand parent for *, Matrix over number field, vector over symbolic ring

18 février 2016 | Catégories: sage | View Comments

Yesterday I received this email (in french):

Salut,
avec Thomas on a une question bête:

K.<x>=NumberField(x*x-x-1)

J'aimerais multiplier une matrice avec des coefficients en x par un vecteur
contenant des variables a et b.  Il dit "unsupported operand parent for *,
Matrix over number field, vector over symbolic ring"

Est ce grave ?


Here is my answer. Indeed, in Sage, symbolic variables can't multiply with elements in an Number Field in x:

sage: x = var('x')
sage: K.<x> = NumberField(x*x-x-1)
sage: a = var('a')
sage: a*x
Traceback (most recent call last)
...
TypeError: unsupported operand parent(s) for '*': 'Symbolic Ring' and
'Number Field in x with defining polynomial x^2 - x - 1'


But, we can define a polynomial ring with variables in a,b and coefficients in the NumberField. Then, we are able to multiply a with x:

sage: x = var('x')
sage: K.<x> = NumberField(x*x-x-1)
sage: K
Number Field in x with defining polynomial x^2 - x - 1
sage: R.<a,b> = K['a','b']
sage: R
Multivariate Polynomial Ring in a, b over Number Field in x with
defining polynomial x^2 - x - 1
sage: a*x
(x)*a


With two square brackets, we obtain powers series:

sage: R.<a,b> = K[['a','b']]
sage: R
Multivariate Power Series Ring in a, b over Number Field in x with
defining polynomial x^2 - x - 1
sage: a*x*b
(x)*a*b


It works with matrices:

sage: MS = MatrixSpace(R,2,2)
sage: MS
Full MatrixSpace of 2 by 2 dense matrices over Multivariate Power
Series Ring in a, b over Number Field in x with defining polynomial
x^2 - x - 1
sage: MS([0,a,b,x])
[  0   a]
[  b (x)]
sage: m1 = MS([0,a,b,x])
sage: m2 = MS([0,a+x,b*b+x,x*x])
sage: m1 + m2 * m1
[              (x)*b + a*b       (x + 1) + (x + 1)*a]
[                (x + 2)*b (3*x + 1) + (x)*a + a*b^2]