[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

RE: Repeated function evaluation?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg24233] RE: [mg24240] Repeated function evaluation?
• From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net>
• Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 15:22:00 -0400 (EDT)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: AES [mailto:siegman at stanford.edu]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
>
> Suppose I have a function  f[x_,y_] := Module[{ }, . . .]  where the
> module is fairly time-consuming to evaluate.
>
> If I call this function a second time in a given notebook using
> identical values of the arguments  x  and  y , is Mathematica smart
> enough the second time around to recognize that it's already evaluated
> the function once for those arguments, and use a stored value?
>
> Or, if I want to use the values of this function for a given range of
> arguments multiple times (e.g., replotting the values in different
> ways), do I need to do something like
>
>    Do[ ff[x,y] = f[x,y], {x, x1, x2}, {y, y1, y2} ]
>
> and use the values  ff[x,y]  instead?
>
> Thanks   AES
>
>

Use dynamic programming described in Section 2.4.9, Functions That Remember
Values They Have Found, in the Mathematica Book.

f[x_, y_] := f[x, y] = x + y^2

{f[1, 1], f[1, 2]}
{2, 5}

Now, Mathematica has stored the definitions for those particular values.

?f
Global`f
f[1, 1] = 2

f[1, 2] = 5

f[x_, y_] := f[x, y] = x + y^2

David Park
djmp at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/