Re: Yet another Mathematica docs whopper
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg47098] Re: Yet another Mathematica docs whopper
- From: bobhanlon at aol.com (Bob Hanlon)
- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 03:55:41 -0500 (EST)
- References: <c3udt9$9pd$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Show does not have its own options Options[Show] {} Options specified with Show are used to override the options of the graphics expression being shown. p1 = Plot[x,{x,0,1}, AspectRatio->2, DisplayFunction->Identity]; Show[p1, DisplayFunction->$DisplayFunction]; Show[p1, DisplayFunction->$DisplayFunction, AspectRatio->1]; Bob Hanlon In article <c3udt9$9pd$1 at smc.vnet.net>, J Krugman <jkrugman at yahbitoo.com> wrote: << I've posted about the poor quality of Mathematica's documentation before, and received several e-mails challenging my claim that this documentation is awash in errors and woefully incomplete. Well, for those who doubt, here's the latest example I just bumped into: In[1]:= ??AspectRatio AspectRatio is an option for Show and related functions which specifies the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ratio of height to width for a plot. Attributes[AspectRatio] = {Protected} In[2]:= SetOptions[Show, AspectRatio->Automatic]; SetOptions::optnf: AspectRatio is not a known option for Show. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Faced with this sort of nonsense, what is a user to do? I am furious, because I spend an unreasonable amount of time resolving inadequacies like this one in the Mathematica documentation. Considering the exorbitant sum we paid for Mathematica, I expect something much better documented than this.