A unification of Liouvillian extensions (Q1814135)

Algorithms in the theory of symbolic integration make extensive use of some key properties of elementary and Liouvillian functions, e.g. the relations between the orders of a function and its derivative at their poles. Those properties are very similar for various cases of functions but the minor difference have caused the proofs to be presented separately in each case. In the paper a class of ordinary differential extensions is described where those properties hold, and where most techniques of symbolic integration can be generalized. Elementary and Liouvillian extensions are special cases of such extensions, so the Risch algorithm and its extensions can be presented in a unified form. As an application of the results an integration algorithm for real transcendental elementary functions is given, which does not require trigonometric functions and their inverses to be converted to complex functions.