Re: MatchQ
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg8590] Re: [mg8542] MatchQ
- From: David Withoff <withoff>
- Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 22:13:09 -0400
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
> Hello, > > Can anybody explain me why > > MatchQ[E^(a*I*b), E^(I*freq_)] gives False ??? > > (while for instance MatchQ[E^(a*I*b), E^(a*freq_)] gives True) > > What patterns should be used for expressions with I ? > > Many thanks, > Raya Khanin Are you sure that this is the example that you tried? This returned True when I tried it. In[1]:= MatchQ[E^(a*I*b), E^(I*freq_)] Out[1]= True In general, probably the best way of answering questions involving patterns is to compare the FullForm of the expression that you want to match with the FullForm of the pattern. For example In[2]:= FullForm[E^(a*I*b)] Out[2]//FullForm= Power[E, Times[Complex[0, 1], a, b]] shows what Mathematica sees when it compares this expression with a pattern. The pattern In[3]:= FullForm[ E^(I*freq_)] Out[3]//FullForm= Power[E, Times[Complex[0, 1], Pattern[freq, Blank[]]]] should match this expression. As a counterexample, here is a match that returns False In[4]:= MatchQ[E^(2 I b), E^(I freq_)] Out[4]= False for reasons that can be seen by looking at the FullForm of the expression In[4]:= E^(2 I b) //FullForm Out[4]//FullForm= Power[E, Times[Complex[0, 2], b]] The match fails because Complex[0, 2] doesn't match Complex[0, 1]. Dave Withoff Wolfram Research