mathjs/docs/reference/functions/simplify.md

Function simplify

Simplify an expression tree.

It's possible to pass a custom set of rules to the function as second argument. A rule can be specified as an object, string, or function:

var rules = [
  { l: 'n1*n3 + n2*n3', r: '(n1+n2)*n3' },
  'n1*n3 + n2*n3 -> (n1+n2)*n3',
  function (node) {
    // ... return a new node or return the node unchanged
    return node
  }
]

The default list with rules is exposed on the function as simplify.rules and can be used as a basis to built a set of custom rules.

For more details on the theory, see:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7540227/strategies-for-simplifying-math-expressions
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_computation#Simplification

Syntax

simplify(expr)
simplify(expr, rules)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
expr	Node | string	The expression to be simplified
rules	Array<{l:string, r: string} | string | function>	Optional list with custom rules

Returns

Type	Description
Node	Returns the simplified form of expr

Examples

math.simplify('2 * 1 * x ^ (2 - 1)');      // Node {2 * x}
var f = math.parse('2 * 1 * x ^ (2 - 1)');
math.simplify(f);                          // Node {2 * x}

See also

derivative, parse, eval