tricky question
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg27960] tricky question
- From: Otto Linsuain <linsuain+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
- Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 05:27:08 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Dear mathgroup: this question has been teasing my brain for a while. It is about the apparent IMPOSSIBILITY of defining certain functions as pure functions. first take a simple case where it is POSSIBLE to define a pure function: g[x_,y_]:= Times[x,y] will do the same as g := Times[ #1, #2 ] & now in this case it seems to me it is IMPOSSIBLE to define a pure function: g[x_,y_] := Map[ Times[ x, # ]&, y ] is NOT the same as g := Map[ Times[ #1, #]& , #2]& the reason these two are not the same is that in the function on the top line the arguments of Times would be x and the parts of y at level 1 taken in sequence, while in the function on the botton line, the arguments of Times would both be just x, since #1 and # stand for the same. So, the question is: can g[x_,y_] := Map[ Times[ x, # ]&, y ] be input as a pure function? Thanks in advance. Otto Linsuain.