How do i do the reverse from expand function ?

I have an expression lets say

a^2_2*a*b+b^2+b

and i want to simplify the expression to get

(a+b)^2+b

what is the proper way of doing this ?

Answer 1

[Chidvi Modala]

Hi Tomer,

In general, you may use simplify(expr) function to perform algebraic simplification of expr. But simplify currently has some known issue with the simplification of sums. It cannot simplify your entire expression "a^2+2*a*b+b^2+b", but it can simplify "a^2+2*a*b+b^2" to "(a+b)^2". You may use the following example as a workaround.

syms a b;
simplify(expand(a^2+2*a*b+b^2)) + b