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I want to get the Real part of this expression - shouldn't be too hard to evaluate. Why is Mathematica not evaluating but returning the same code?

In == Re[χ/(1 + I ω τ)]
Out == Re[χ/(1 + I ω τ)]

Thank you!

Jens
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keyx
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  • To directly answer the question as asked: Mathematica has no way of knowing that you intend the symbolic entities $\chi$, $\omega$, and $\tau$ to be real; without further information, such entities might be complex. – murray Dec 07 '14 at 17:50
  • Same as this post – SquareOne Dec 07 '14 at 17:58

1 Answers1

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Look at the documentation for Re, under Possible Issues

Re can stay unevaluated for numeric arguments: {Re[Log[2 + I]], Re[Sqrt[1 + I]]}

To get around this, try using Re[ComplexExpand[χ/(1 + I ω τ)]].

Yves Klett
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Asas
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    To go one step further, you can display the real part by assuming the variables are real (just like ComplexExpand did): Refine[Re[ComplexExpand[\[Chi]/(1+I \[Omega] \[Tau])]],{\[Chi],\[Omega],\[Tau]}\[Element]Reals] – seismatica Dec 07 '14 at 08:02
  • Sorry, I accidentally downvoted and didn't notice fast enough. Reversed :-) – Yves Klett Dec 07 '14 at 20:06