PlusMinus Operator Question
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg38356] PlusMinus Operator Question
- From: TerryH <tharter at attglobal.net>
- Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 01:38:00 -0500 (EST)
- Reply-to: tharter at attglobal.net
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi All: How can I get Mathematica 4.2 to do simple multipliction thru PlusMinus operators? For example, suppose I have a 3-dimensional vector with component tolerances specified: In[4]:= va = {{4.10 ± 0.057}, {-3.16 ± 0.796}, {5.09 ± .250}} Out[4]:= {{4.1\[PlusMinus]0.057},{-3.16\[PlusMinus]0.796},{5.09\[PlusMinus]0.25}} In[5]:= FullForm[va] Out[5]://FullForm= List[List[PlusMinus[4.1`,0.057`]],List[PlusMinus[-3.16`,0.796`]], List[PlusMinus[5.09`,0.25`]]] In[6]:= 5.2*va Out[6]:= {{5.2 (4.1\[PlusMinus]0.057)},{5.2 (-3.16\[PlusMinus]0.796)},{5.2 (5.09\ \[PlusMinus]0.25)}} However, what I want is (for the first component of the vector, va) is 5.2*4.1 ± (5.2*0.057) or, equivalently 21.32 ± 0.2964 Is there a standard package to do this? I wasn't able to find anything of help in Section 1.10 or 3.10 of the Wolfram Reference. How does one assign meaning to the PlusMinus operator to do simple arithmetic calculations as shown above? Many thanks to all who may respond! ....Terry H