Re: List arguments to functions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg45557] Re: List arguments to functions
- From: bobhanlon at aol.com (Bob Hanlon)
- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 01:26:12 -0500 (EST)
- References: <bu0cnm$aib$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
The problem is not with Plus but rather with your function definition.
Clear[myfunc];
myfunc[x_,y_]=Apply[Plus,x+y];
?myfunc
myfunc
myfunc[x_, y_] := Plus @@ (x + y)
However, if you use SetDelayed
Clear[myfunc];
myfunc[x_,y_]:=Apply[Plus,x+y];
?myfunc
myfunc
myfunc[x_, y_] := Plus @@ (x + y)
myfunc[{1,2,3},{4,5,6}]
21
I strongly recommend that you do not change the attributes of built-in
functions. It will have numerous unintended side-effects.
Bob Hanlon
In article <bu0cnm$aib$1 at smc.vnet.net>, Chris Rozell <crozell at rice.edu> wrote:
<< I have basic experience with Mathematica, but this problem has stumped
me for the last day or so. Any help would be appreciated.
I have a function that needs to take two lists as arguments, perform
operations on them, and then sum the resulting list. However, by
including the Plus function, it operates on each list item separately
(which is exactly the opposite of what I need. For a simple example,
>myfunc[x_, y_] = Apply[Plus, x + y];
>myfunc[{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}]
>
>{5, 7, 9}
When what I would really like is the number 21 (i.e., 5+7+9, perform the
list addition first, then sum the components). In this simple example I
could perform the summation after the function returns, but in my real
problem this would not be possible.
When reading the documentation, it appears that the Plus function
behaves this way because it has the attribute "Flat". But even after
removing that attribute it still behaves in the same way, so I may be
misunderstanding the description of "flat". Can anyone suggest a way to
either modify the Plus function behavior, or do this another way? Thank
you in advance!