# Simplification in Symbolics v7

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/simplification-in-symbolics-v7/133974>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question, symbolics\
**Created:** [November 18, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/simplification-in-symbolics-v7/133974 "2025-11-18T18:19:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bernardofpc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bernardofpc/32/7783_2.png) [@bernardofpc](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/bernardofpc)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/simplification-in-symbolics-v7/133974/1 "2025-11-18T18:19:31Z")

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I have read [Basic expression manipulation with Symbolics.jl - #2 by Gravlax](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/basic-expression-manipulation-with-symbolics-jl/77799/2) but found no issue, so I’m asking again with some very simple examples to understand if there is a reason for the three results below:

```julia
julia> simplify(-x/-u)
x / u

julia> simplify(-x/-2)
1//2*x

julia> simplify((- x)/(-1 - u))
(-x) / (-1 - u)

```

The first one makes total sense to me. The second one puzzles me because it is `Mul(Rat(1,2), x)` which seems more involved that `Div(x, 2)`, but maybe there is no “`2`”, only “`Rat(2,1)`”. But the third one is even more surprising, since it does not cancel minus signs.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChrisRackauckas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chrisrackauckas/32/77_2.png) [@ChrisRackauckas](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ChrisRackauckas)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/simplification-in-symbolics-v7/133974/2 "2025-11-19T15:55:58Z")

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> [@bernardofpc](#):
>
> he second one puzzles me because it is `Mul(Rat(1,2), x)` which seems more involved that `Div(x, 2)`

The canonical form is a polynomial.

> [@bernardofpc](#):
>
> But the third one is even more surprising, since it does not cancel minus signs.

That could probably use a rule, though that rule could be surprisingly difficult I think in this case.