RE: Min[], Max[]
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg48345] RE: [mg48320] Min[], Max[]
- From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net>
- Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 07:17:09 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Frank,
What other value would you suggest for the minimum of an empty list?
Min and Max have the attribute Flat.
Min[Min[{}], Min[{10^20}]]
100000000000000000000
The only way the above statement could always be correct is that the Min of
an empty list is infinity. You might have an algorithm that generates two
lists, but one of the lists may sometimes be empty. The statement above
would still work.
Same for Max.
David Park
djmp at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/
From: Frank Brand [mailto:fank.brand at t-online.de]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
Dear newsgroup members,
can anyone explain me what´s the sense in the definition of
Min[{}]= Infinity and Max[{}]= -Infinity
Thanks in advance
Frank
Prof. Dr. Frank Brand
Budapester Str. 13
10787 Berlin
+49 (0)30 - 25 79 36 62
0179 - 215 58 04
frank.brand at t-online.de