Re: Not[OddQ] is not the same as EvenQ (sometimes)
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg3899] Re: Not[OddQ] is not the same as EvenQ (sometimes)
- From: wagner at motel6.cs.colorado.edu (Dave Wagner)
- Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 23:24:13 -0400
- Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
In article <4m1hq2$pq4 at dragonfly.wolfram.com>, Arnold Seiken <SEIKENA at gar.union.edu> wrote: >Dear Mathematica experts, > >Position[{2,3,4,5,6,7}, x_?(EvenQ[#]&)] >{{1}, {3}, {5}} >Position[{2,3,4,5,6,7}, x_?(!OddQ[#]&)] >{{0}, {1}, {3}, {5}} >Therefore, for this example, the pattern x_?(EvenQ[#]&) is not equivalent to >the pattern x_?(!OddQ[#]&). The latter matches with the head List of >{2,3,4,5,6,7}, the former does not. That's because if a is a symbol without any numeric values (e.g., a = List), OddQ[a] == EvenQ[a] == False. > But >Position[{-2,3,4,-5,6,7}, x_?(NonNegative[#]&)] >{{2}, {3}, {5}, {6}} >Position[{-2,3,4,-5,6,7}, x_?(!Negative[#]&)] >{{2}, {3}, {5}, {6}} >shows that the Head List is sometimes ignored by Position. Wrong explanation. Negative[List] returns Negative[List]. Therefore Not[Negative[List]] is not equal to True, so Position does not return {0}. The general rule is that functions ending with "Q" always return either True or False (there are some exceptions, such as LegendreQ, which is not a predicate); functions that do not end with "Q" may return unevaluated. You can force any function that doesn't return an explicit False to do so by wrapping TrueQ around it. NegativeQ[x_] := TrueQ[Negative[x]] The fact that Negative, Positive, etc. don't do quite what you expect is understandably annoying. > Finally >Position[{1,3,5}, x_?(!OddQ[#]&)] >{{0}} Consistent with above explanation. >Position[{2,3,4,5,6,7}, x_?(!NumberQ[#]&)] >{{0}, {}} {0} is consistent with above explanation. I don't know the cause of the empty set of list braces here. Try using Trace to see where they're coming from. >Position[{2,3,4,5,6,7}, x_?(!Positive[#]&)] >{} Consistent with above explanation. Dave Wagner Principia Consulting (303) 786-8371 dbwagner at princon.com http://www.princon.com/princon ==== [MESSAGE SEPARATOR] ====