Q:

Mathcad simplifies results using $\textrm{csgn}$ instead of $1$

How can I prevent Mathcad from adding $\textrm{csgn}$ to my simplification?
Sample:
(x-1)/((x-1)^2)1/2 simplify -> csgn(x-1)

Image from Mathcad

A:

Mathcad is not wrong. Plug in $x=-2$ and see what you get.

To expand upon this. The top can be either positive or negative (large negative $x$ means the top is negative and a large positive $x$ means the top is positive). However, the function $\sqrt{x}$, by convention, is always positive. Which is why, if we want both the positive or the negative root, we use $\pm\sqrt{x}$. Therefore our answer can be either positive or negative and not just 1.

