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Re: Re.Iterations.. (function composition) the whole story

  • To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Re.Iterations.. (function composition) the whole story
  • From: gaylord at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
  • Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1992 05:17:25 -0500

sorry about the incomplete response before. here's the rest of the story
===================================================
>spagiola at leland.stanford.edu writes:
>
>I'm looking for a way to achieve the following result a little more  
>elegantly:
>
>a[s]
>g[%]
>a[%]
>g[%]
>a[%]
>g[%]
>...
>You get the idea.  I have a function a[] that takes an initial value  
>of s as its argument.  A second function g[] takes the result of a[]  
>and modifies the value of s, which then passes back to a[], etc.
>I also need to recover every value, so that i can plot a[] and s[]  
>(separately).  I'd also like to be able to either specify the number  
>of iterations or let it converge to a point where it no longer  
>changes.
=================================================

dog = NestList[Composition[g, a], s, 3]
{s, g[a[s]], g[a[g[a[s]]]], g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]}

cat = NestList[Composition[a, g], a[s], 3]
{a[s], a[g[a[s]]], a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]], a[g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]]}

and depending on whether you want to end with g or a: 

Flatten[Transpose[{dog, cat}]]
{s, a[s], g[a[s]], a[g[a[s]]], g[a[g[a[s]]]], a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]],
g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]], a[g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]]}

Drop[Flatten[Transpose[{dog,cat}]],-1]
{s, a[s], g[a[s]], a[g[a[s]]], g[a[g[a[s]]]],  a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]],
g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]}

---------------------------------------------------
also, Flatten[Transpose[{dog, cat}]] is equivalent to

Flatten[Thread[Sequence[{dog, cat}]]]
{s, a[s], g[a[s]], a[g[a[s]]], g[a[g[a[s]]]],  a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]],
g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]],  a[g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]]}

Flatten[Thread[List[dog, cat]]]
{s, a[s], g[a[s]], a[g[a[s]]], g[a[g[a[s]]]],  a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]],
g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]],  a[g[a[g[a[g[a[s]]]]]]]}

------------------------------------------------------

and as i said before, you can use FixedPointList instead of NestList for
convergence or a max of n steps whichever occurs first.

?FixedPointList
FixedPointList[f, expr] generates a list giving the results
   of applying f repeatedly, starting with expr, until the
   results no longer change.
FixedPointList[f, expr, n] stops
   after at most n steps.
-------------------------------------

M is functional programming ... plus a whole lot more.






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