In maxima, I have an expression that is simplified to an expression similar to the form of:
tmp : c * d * (exp(a*t) - exp(b*t)) * exp(-a*t-b*t);
A typical simplification by hand would be to distribute the exponential term while leaving the $c$ and $d$ factored. However, I can't seem to coerce maxima to produce this form of the expression.
distrib(tmp) or expand(tmp) produces $c d e^{-b t} - c d e^{-a t}$
factor(tmp) produces: $-c d (e^{b t} - e^{a t}) e^{-b t - a t}$
factor(distrib(tmp)) produces the same expression as factor alone $-c d (e^{b t} - e^{a t}) e^{-b t - a t}$
Is there a way to coerce maxima into simplifying tmp into the desired form of $c d (e^{-b t} - e^{-a t})$ ? I realize the equivalence is trivial to keep track of in this case, but this pattern is often useful within more complex expressions as well.
The following will do what you desire