/** This is a tricky issue which has to do with the fact that too much conflicting type information is propagated into a single implicit search, where the intended solution applies two implicit searches. Roughly, in x + x * y, the first x is first typed as Poly[A]. That means the x * y is then typed as Poly[A]. Then the second x is typed as Poly[A], then y is typed as Poly[Poly[A]]. The application x * y fails, so the coef2poly implicit conversion is applied to x. That means we look for an implicit conversion from type Poly[A] to type ?{val *(x$1: ?>: Poly[Poly[A]] <: Any): Poly[A]}. Note that the result type Poly[A] is propagated into the implicit search. Poly[A] comes as expected type from x+, because the lhs x is still typed as a Poly[A]. This means that the argument of the implicit conversion is typechecked with expected type A with Poly[A]. And no solution is found. To solve this, I added a fallback scheme similar to implicit arguments: When an implicit view that adds a method matching given arguments and result type fails, try again without the result type. */ trait Ring[T <: Ring[T]] { def +(that: T): T def *(that: T): T } class A extends Ring[A] { def +(that: A) = new A def *(that: A) = new A } class Poly[C <: Ring[C]](val c: C) extends Ring[Poly[C]] { def +(that: Poly[C]) = new Poly(this.c+that.c) def *(that: Poly[C]) = new Poly(this.c*that.c) } object Test extends App { implicit def coef2poly[C <: Ring[C]](c: C): Poly[C] = new Poly(c) val a = new A val x = new Poly(new A) println(x+a) // works println(a+x) // works val y = new Poly(new Poly(new A)) println(x+y*x) // works println(x*y+x) // works println(y*x+x) // works println(x+x*y) // failed before }