> IMHO the goal of "simplify" an algebraic expression is especially flawed I teach calculus occasionally at a local university, and always make a point to high

> IMHO the goal of "simplify" an algebraic expression is especially flawed I teach calculus occasionally at a local university, and always make a point to highlight this fact to my class. In their previous algebra courses, the "objective" was more often than not to factor something into the smallest expression possible. But in calculus, you generally want to expand an expression in to more terms to take advantage of linearity properties of operations like differentiation, integration, etc. The concept of "simplify this" isn't very well defined, and I tended to not be a stickler for the final form of most things.